hank Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Rader Sidetrack Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The maps Jimmy posted have a notation (look
> just
> > below Animas Street) saying "Map approved by
> Sec't
> > of Interior 9-8-'83". Presumably that is
> >
1883.
> >
> Except that the Silverton Railroad wasn't
> incorporated until July of 1887. So was it just
> added to the existing map?
>
> hank .
The town of Silverton if I read the history right was a going concern before any of the railroads got there. The title of the land came to the federal government through the treaty with the Ute Nation, and it looks like miners were already there. So for anyone to legally own anything, the processes created for that had to ultimately be followed. This means the legal reality of Silverton starts with a survey and a legally filed plat (map with surveying details) of a subdivision of land into lots by someone who had obtained title from the government. This plat shows all the lots and streets created and what kind of monuments were set on the ground, the measured distances and directions, etc. Only then can the owner of the newly platted land begin to sell lots. Of course in a gold strike everybody "shot first and asked questions later" but the legal basis was quickly established. It had to be if there wasn't going to be complete chaos.
So when the railroads got there, there already were maps to use, the Silverton original plat and any additions made later when the railroads got there. That is what you see in Jimmy's map. You can tell the town (and its plat) precedes the railroads, by the way, because the railroad rights of way cut through lots already created. Plats around existing railroads (and roads) always must monument and include their rights of way; their ownership or right of use precedes the plat and is(are) superior to it. The railroad comes in, buys or gets easements through the existing land, and creates and files its own surveys/plats to reflect it.
You are close to what is to me the interesting question in Jimmy's map; why is the Department of the Interior signing off on railroad rights of way within land already conveyed out of its jurisdiction? Or maybe exactly what its jurisdiction was at the time. In practice I suspect things at the time were pretty wild and wooly and the paperwork/legal reality papered together to try to catch up. It may be that the town of Silverton was surveyed and platted when the land was still technically a part of the Ute Nation and so the whole show is questionable until the U.S. government signed off. Looks like there is a lot of history to explore.
Thanks for pointing out that signoff. I missed it!
Timothy
