Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1889-11-16
NEVADA.
FOOLISH BUSINESS.


Lyon county and Douglas county both
have men in the field now to survey a line be-
tween the two counties. In some manner
Douglas county's Commissioners have be
come impregnated with the idea that Lyon
county has for years been receiving taxes
from property in Douglas county. The law
establishing the bundary line between the
counties OF Esmeralda and Douglas (Which
is now the line in dispute, since portion
OF Esmeralda was annexed to Lyon reads
as follows;
"There shall be county, to be known as
Esmeralda county, to include all that part
OF the State within the boundaries described
as follows, Beginning at point where the
thirty.seventh degree Of north latitude inter-
sects the one hundred and sixteenth merid.
ian, and running west along said thirty
seventh degree to the California line; thence
along said line, in northwesterly direction,
to tkg4summit Of 1the divide, between the
east and west forks of the Walker River;
thence along said divide, in nor.herly d..
rection, to the head waters Of Desert Creek ,;
thence, following down the middle of said
creek to point where it debouches from
the mountain; thence following the base Of
the mountain, to the west branch of Walker
River; thence, across SAID river, to the base
of the mountain; thence, following the base
OF the mountain in direct line as near as
may be, TO Mason's ranch; thence, due east
TO the one hundred and sixteenth meridian;
thence, south along said meridian to the
place Of beginning"
1t would seem that the above is plain
enough for any man with ordinary common
sense to understand, but the Douglas county
officials do not seem 10 know where the base
OF q mountain is. The law contemplates, with.
out doubt, TO have the line run across the
country following where the mountains rose
abruptly. 1t did not mean that the line was
10 run around tie foot hills or it would have
said so.
The law providing for the survey Of
boundary line between counties makes ii
obligatory for each county to have its sur
veyor in the field for this reason. If the
surveyor Of one county should fail to be on
hand after a notification that at certain
time line is to be run the surveyor from
the other county could 60 on and run the
line where he chose, and this line would
determine the boundary. Thus, if Lyon
county failed to have representative on the
ground Douglas could run the line 10 suit
herself and Lyon would be loser. The law
also says that where two surveying parties
meet and fail to agree as to where the line
should be run, and one party abandons the
field, the line run by the party remaining
shall hold.
In the case Of Lyon and Douglas we pre-
diet that the surveyors will not agree as to
where the line should run; neither will eth.
er party abandon the field; consequently two
lines will be run and the matter will stand
as it did before the survey. except that in
Douglas trying to collect taxes in the terri.
tory embraced by her survey would cause
law suit and the Courts would then be called
upon to decide which line came the closest
TO following the law.
The expense Of establishing this line will
cost each county from $500 to 5000, and
neither county will be benefited to a quarter
of that amount. The matter has been forced
upon Lyon county by the stubbornness Of
the Douglas county Commissioners, and the
taxpayers of that county must be shiitless
class to elect to office men who desire to
spend hundreds of dollars in running imagi-
nary lines around the foothills Of the count.
Jy and prospecting for law suits.