Who owns old towns?

[diverrick]

I go detect an old ghost town. Not much of anything to see there anymore, it has all returned to the earth, and mother nature has taken it over completely. My thought was this was once a thriving town, and property was sold to home owners and business people. So I have to assume it changed from being BLM to city property at some point, then private property. So could a person go buy those lots? and who would get the money? or does BLM, just swoop in and take it all over once again? It would be nice to have a cabin or a trailer up there. It is a very quite and peaceful place now, with only a Cemetery to show there was ever a town there at one time, It is good beeping and bottle diggin too.

 

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[1shotwade]

I'm no expert but I would think the place to start would be the county courthouse. You know if at all possible they are going to be collecting taxes from whoever owns it.

Wade

 

[BosnMate]

Unless they are obviously on private property, I've always figured they revert back to the Forest Service or BLM. At least they act that way anyhow. Summit City is in a wilderness area, and I doubt it's private, although there are mining claims in there, that might be filed on. So I don't know, interesting though, glad you brought it up.

 

[jeff of pa]

simply put it depends on where the old town is.
most of the ghost towns in my are are either on mine land ( owned by Conglomerate)
state Park (owned by State) and state game land (owned by State Game Commission)

 

[diverrick]

It is an old hydraulic mining town on the way to Downieville. Everyone just up and walked away from it once the ban went into effect. I would love to find a map with some landmarks to fugure out where the roads and building were, and what they were. I need to get up to the county offices and do some digging.

 

[el padron]

It is an old hydraulic mining town on the way to Downieville. Everyone just up and walked away from it once the ban went into effect. I would love to find a map with some landmarks to fugure out where the roads and building were, and what they were. I need to get up to the county offices and do some digging.

Once the taxes are not paid for about seven years, (or instantly if someone expresses interest in the defaulted parcels.) It goes back to the county that it is located in and auctioned off to the highest bidder.
If it doesn't sell it simply stays on the tax sale list until it does.

Something called a constructive easement also sometimes plays a roll in ownership (also stewardship, right to use, etc...) in cases such as these.

Zoom in close on google maps, (Not earth) If lot lines exist they will show as faint grey lines.
An active competent real estate broker will have access to a major title companies client databases. That is the sure way. (ie Fidelity Title's Passport programs)
Many old towns were simply not (technically) sub devided (Yet many were).

For a good example take a look at the abandoned port town of Indianola Texas.
There is nothing there but very low swampland and a very out of place, monument to La Salle.
Also some of the best redfish and trout fishing in all of Texas bar none.

No one is there at all, there is a very profitable marina that is run by a very smart family, but that is about it.
The lot lines are still clearly visible on Google.
Speculators have been buying, reselling and repossessing lots since the town was submerged in the 1880 ( + or minus, I can just see you running to Wikipedia, Geez, ) Hurricane.
Many lots are recurrently available in the county's tax lien sales.

Interesting stuff, you ask questions that very few people take the time or initiative to ponder.

 

[diverrick]

The forest has all grown up over the place, so looking at Google maps doesn't help All you see is tree tops. To add to the confusion, the area has been logged a few time during the last century and a half, which obliterated any signs, plus a forest fire cleared it out pretty well. The only signs I can see, is once in a while, you'll see a line of non native trees, indicating either a lot line or a walkway or a road. It is very hard to tell anything after all that has gone on. If I even had a reference point to start from, that would be a huge advance. That is why I wanted to find the cemetery. That would be a good reference point, plus I know it is still there somewhere in the brush, just can't seem to find it. I have seen pictures of the head stones.