Title: Arthur G. Rahn papers

Dates: 1949-2005

Collection Number: MS 637

Creator/Collector: Rahn (Arthur G.)

Extent: 1 box

Repository: California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives

Abstract: Includes correspondence, reports and a copy of land appraiser Arthur G. Rahn's book CORRIDOR VALUATION: AN APPRAISER'S OVERVIEW.

Language of Material: English

This collection is open for research at our off-site storage facility with one week's notice. Contact Library & Archives staff to arrange for access.

Copyright has not been assigned to the California State Railroad Museum. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Capital District Collections Manager. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the CSRM as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Arthur G. Rahn papers. California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives

Gift of Arthur G. Rahn, 2008.

Arthur G. Rahn is an appraisal consultant based in Fairfield, California. He was formerly Assistant Director of Appraisal Services for Southern Pacific Railroad and Manager of Appraisals for Union Pacific Railroad, where he specialized in corridor valuation appraisal. He has contributed several articles to The Appraisal Journal.

Includes materials collected by Arthur G. Rahn while he was an appraiser for the Southern Pacific Company, as well as a copy of his book: CORRIDOR VALUATION: AN APPRAISER'S OVERVIEW (2005). A corridor is defined as "A long, narrow strip of land or property rights for which the highest and best use is to provide an economic benefit by connecting the end points, and sometimes serving intermediate points along the way...” (page 7). An August 2, 1949 letter from SP Secretary to the President Howard Joseph Carroll addressed to SP President Donald J. Russell discusses SP's policy of the sale of surplus property (real estate). Another letter (August 10, 1949) from Assistant to the President Carlos J. McDonald to President Russell references an historical memoranda referring to SP land policies which President Russell had asked MacDonald to prepare. "A resume of the acquisition and management of land under jurisdiction of the Land Department of Southern Pacific Company" examines the Southern Pacific Land Company and how it acquired, sold, and leased lands, how and why its policies changed over time, land grant rates, Oregon land grant litigation, details of the land grants, how the title to minerals was held, land sales, land surveys, and how land was patented and appraised. It examines specific land tracts in California (Bonita Farms, McKittrick, Moron, Indio, Daggett, the Huntington Tract, Shasta Retreat, Tweedy, the Salton Sea) and Nevada (Imlay, Hazen, Montello, Mina), Oregon and Mexico. The "resume" also includes an examination of land owned by SP subsidiary or leased companies including: Central Pacific Railway, Cloudcroft Company, Beaver Hill Coal Company, Coos Bay Oregon Coal Company, Oregon & California Land Company, Porter Fuel Company, Durango Land Company, Iron Chief Mining Company, Albion Lumber Company, Nevada-California-Oregon Realty Company, Alamagordo Lumber Company, Alsea Southern Railroad, and American Agricultural Chemical Company. Correspondence from June 16, 1972 addressed to SP President Benjamin F. Biaggini from the SP Standing Land Grant Committeee recommends the gradual return of Southern Pacific's Congressional grant right of way in California for property tax purposes. In his September 19, 1972 letter to Lawrence Elliott Hoyt, Vice-President and Assistant to the President, SP General Solicitor Robert L. Pierce comments on the memoranda. A 1970 report by an outside consulting firm summarizes the findings and recommendations of a utilization study of Southern Pacific outlying lands (grazing, timber and agricultural land) in California, Nevada, and Utah, and was prepared by the Los Angeles. Arranged alphabetically by title or document type.