Willie L Douthit

I have never used Google Earth much at all.

Can someone post an Image of Larry's 52 acre plot and the surrounding area?

It looks like it is just 2 miles West of the Highway 14 exit where you would get off at Palmdale Lake, a couple of miles south of the Palmdale exit. What am I missing?

Thanks in advance,

Garry
 

That parcel appears to have a pipeline running across it. As well, all three properties are in a line on the map. I wonder if Willie was buying parcels he imagined would be used for infrastructure or development. Perhaps he learned of a development or project through contacts at his office, and he might have been trying to cash in on the condemnation process for those public works. The northern most parcel would appear attractive due to the pipeline, not sure about the other parcels, I guess we need to figure out when that pipeline was installed. But it does appear you can drive straight to that parcel from the Avenue S exit near Palmdale Lake. It even has a residential development on its northern edge, on the north side of West Avenue S. The other two parcels also appear to be accessible, perhaps there is some confusion on their actual location.
 

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It appears Big Tujunga Reservoir is south of HWY 14 on the other side of the highway far from where the parcels were mapped out by Garry in post #178. I verified the locations of all 4 parcels that Willie owned, and none are near Big Tujunga Reservoir. Of course, I am always subject to correction!
 

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Here is a tool that makes finding township, range, and section much easier.

Earth Survey Plugin

I also think perhaps people are forgetting they must read property location backwards, when you are talking about locating parcels within specific sections. The part with section fractions must be read from last to first.
 

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UncleMatt said:
It appears Big Tujunga Reservoir is south of HWY 14 on the other side of the highway far from where the parcels were mapped out by Garry in post #178. Are we sure about that mapping Garry?
Click to expand...

UncleMatt,

Thanks for the sanity check!

I agree that Mike and I are far apart. I don’t know how Mike worked his location out and I can only try to walk you through my methodology. I will only do the main 52 acre parcel and the other two would be almost identical.

Links to the actual patents all appear in post #56 in this thread.

52 Acre Parcel

http://archives.slc.ca.gov/Meeting_Summaries/1958_Documents/07-25-58/Items/072558C16.pdf

From the patent we have the following land description

Lot 1, Section 6, Township 5N, Range 12 West, San Bernardino Meridian (51,97 Acres) in Los Angeles County.

The Lot 1 notation differs from what we frequently see. It would typically appear as the NE 1/4 of the NE 1/4 but in this case adjustments had to be made and hence the Lot notation.

Derfinition of Lots.jpg

I searched the USGS maps In los Angeles County until I found the Ritter Ridge Topo that contained the Township 5N and Range 12W notations. (Left Side of Image)

The Ritter Ridge topo I chose was a 15 minute map that was updated in 1958. This map would reflect the roads, and features that Laurence would have seen when he was acquiring the land.

Ritter Ridge Legend.jpg

I'm repeating one of the previous images that contains the 52 acre plot and shows the Township notations in respect to Larry's plot. T5N and T6N (Right Hand Side of Map).

Lot 1, Sec 6, Twp 5N, Range 12 W (1958).jpg

You can see the Section numbers within each rectangle and you can now locate the properties on the Topo.

Earlier in the thread sdcfia posted maps that indicated the property was near Palmdale and my analysis is in agreement with that.

Garry
 

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UncleMatt,

I didn't have your latest post.

Using your tool, what was your conclusion?

Garry
 

That 3 properties are north of Hwy 14 in LA County within the "elbow" formed by that highway, and one is in San Diego County. All appear to be accessible.
 

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I have to say, I feel just dead wrong about second guessing Mike. We all make mistakes, but he makes them so rarely (not even one comes to mind) that I wonder if I am missing something he isn't.
 

When figuring out historic land locations, always start out with the oldest mapping you can find and then work your way forward. In this case, the County's 1880 township map suffices - it show's Foreman's Lot 1 51.97-acre parcel clearly. The other two Foreman parcels can also be located on that township map by their legal descriptions. With legal descriptions, as Matt said, work backwards if they describe fractions of a section. This is easy to mess up - I frequently find errors when I double-check myself.

When working with USGS tops, it's also a good idea the start with the oldest ones and work forward, as information changes. The 1958 USGS Ritter's Ridge topo is contemporary to Foreman's CA period and is the perfect choice for locating the parcels on the ground. The newer USGS maps often delete useful information from older issues. Eliminating the township grid is a new one on me!

I haven't tried that Google Earth plugin - it may prove useful. The Google products can be helpful, but as you can see from Post #43, if you plug the legal description into their search engine, you can't rely on the results. Same goes for Google's Street View, topo information, etc., in my opinion. I hope my Post#43 wasn't the source of confusion - if so, I apologize.

secs 1, 8 & 21.jpg
 

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The mapping results for the properties in LA County I got from the link I posted above exactly matched this map

secs 1, 8 & 21.jpg

A nice feature of that site is that it offers land ownership records from public records. So for these three LA County properties, you can right click on them and choose Land Patents from the Records box, and up pops info on our Willie.
 

I have to admit, I didn't map it out myself. I went by this:

Mapping Post

At the time, I just assumed it was correct.

Mike
 

Good info!
Learn something every day.
My calculations wound up down by Mexicali somewhere....I'll start over.
 

Don Jose, if I may offer some advice, do not tempt these women into tormenting you further. Once they taste blood, there is no limit to the cruelties and humiliations they will bring to bear.

Just finish the book. Its really the only way. There is no escape, they have agents everywhere. Maybe even in your own home...
 

Matt, I have known Judy for some years now. She is mean, onry. contemptible, ignorant, over bearing, and is a boozer, and also a durn purty, extremely sharp girl... we make a good pair, although 'I' am known for my saintly qualities.:laughing7::laughing7::notworthy:

But I still can't lure her to my polar bear skin rug I don't think that she trusts me ?? must be because of those lonley Mining eng.'s in the remote mining camps. I have tried to lure her to Tayopa too, but to avail :dontknow::dontknow::censored:



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