The record-union., 1891-02-13
''SHAG ROCK"
The Title to the Little Island in San
Francisco Bay.
Attorney-General Hart Says A. w.
Won schmidt's Claim of Title
Is Not Good.

ID. B. Jackson, Supervisor of the Sec
ond Ward in San Francisco, has been for
warded the following opinion from At
torney-Generai Hart i'll reply to ques-
ton as to whether or not the title to the
islano known as ''Shag Rock" in San
Francisco Bay, is good and in possession
of A. w. Won Schmidt, who is about to
sell the property to the city:
In answer to yonrin inquiry as to whether
or not the title to Shag Rock is good and
in a. w. Won Schmidt, and whether the
city shculd pay for the same, beg leave
to say: That Shag Rock is said to be a
rock in the Bay of San Francisco, in tide
block No. 723. bounded by Seventeenth
and Eighteenth avenues, and Ship and
Dock streets. | find that if the United
States surveys had been extended to and
beyond said rock, Shag Rock would have
been situated in the south half of the
northwest quarter of section &c. township
south, of range west, Mt. Diablo base
and meridian
SIZE OF THE ISLAND.
find that said Shag Rock has an area
of SS-lO0 of an an acre. and is claimed to
have been sold to Won Schmidt, by q
State patent, September l6, 1868, as school
land, for a consideration Of 81 10, and as
part OF the Both section; that he has no
title To the same other than What he might
have obtained by reason of the sale by
the State OF the same as school land; and
that previous TO the sale to Won Schmidt
the Legislature OF the State OF California
had reserved from sale all portions of the
City and County of San Francisco re-
quired for streets and roads; that part
OF this rock is i'll 4 street, and to that eX-
tent is now the property of the city with
out purchase from any source.
NO TITLE AS SCHOOL LAND.
My opinion is that the State of Califor-
MIA obtained 10 title whatsoever to said
Shag Rock as school land and therefore
could not have conveyed any title to any
person as school land, as the law of Con-
gress providing for the setting apart of
the 10th and Both sections of each town.
ship for school purposes, did not apply TO
the County of San Francisco. | find that
Shag Rock always has been and still is
an island IN the Bay of San Francisco.
and ut no time does the tide recede suffi-
GENTLY so that there is bare land from
the rock to the mainland; that all islands
i'll the Bay Of San Francisco were re-
served for military purposes by the
United States, and such reservation had
the effect OF including this island.
IT Is NOT TIDE LAND.
/ further find that said island was never
sold as tide land, and if it had been,
such sale would have been absolutely
was tide land, and therefore did not come
within the provisions of tide land sales;
that by the treaty of the admission of Cal
i1ornia, the United States reserved the
title to all Government land, and there
has been no Act Of Congress that / can
find, which has the effect Of granting to
the State any land in California below
low water mark: and there is a serious
question as to whether or not the State
ever did or could have the right to sell to
private parties any supposed land COW
cred by the waters of the ocean or bay at
extreme low tide; and that San Francisco
being q Pueblo under the Mexican law,
and being surrounded by claimed Span
ish grants, the State of California could
have no interest in any of the land within
the city and county, or County of San
Francisco as school lands.
ScHMIDT's TITLE IS NOT GOOD,
Therefore my opinion is that tho