The herald., 1897-04-18

| amount of money that will change hands
| is s1.11S,O 900. The buyers are an Eng
| ush syndicate of which Baron Roths-
child is a member, and the sellers are the
administrators of the estate of John w.
! Mitchell, deceased. The land is situ-
ated in Stanislaus and Merced counties,
and with it go ample water rights. The
| deeds have been placed in escrow in the
Bank of California, ready to be turned
| over to the purchasers as soon as the
| first payment is made. 1t is understood
to be the object of the buyers to cut
up the land for purposes of colonization.
The estate divides itself naturally In
two parts-that north of the Merced
river in Stanislaus county, and the por-
tion south of it in Merced county. II
extends from Lathrop south to the town
of Merced. The better portion OF the
land is in Merced county and the best
is Immediately west of Atwater. In
Merced county there are 76,154 acres Oh
land, which in 1890 were valued Tor pur-
poses of taxation at SI33,sSl
The second section of the estate is In
Stanislaus county, and is over 4o,ooV
acres in area. 1t is not so good as the
Merced land, but is better than average
land. It is in the Turlock irrigation
district, forming a major portion Oh
the rs. 900 acres irrigated from the big
ditch of that district.
In the vicinity of the Mitchell estate
in Fresno, there are several large podles
of land which have been held intact tor
wears. or have at best been unsuccess-
fully colonized. The largest eetate of
all is the Miller & Lux property. which
is 22S. 900 acres in area. Other large prop
critics are the William H. Howard estate,
the Malloran ranch, Crocker-
Land and Water company and the Cali
fornia Pasture company. The transfer
of the Mitchell estate may be the means
of dividing up other estates, and thus
populating that section of the San Joa-
quin valley.
Another transaction Of less magnitude
but interesting in its way as showing the
revived inquiry for country lands, was
closed ten days ago, when Bovee. Toy &
Sonntag sold the Theodore Winters
stock ranch of $4,000 acres for $4,000.
The property is in Laseen county, and
extends across the border into the state
of Nevada.
An eastern paper Of the 7th says: ut
Is asserted that the net income Of the
Standard Oil company last year was
about $44, ,0O0, 900. A circular to stock
holders relative to change in the COM
panys capital stock is expected about
May 1. A proposition is said to be under
consideration to double the sapital stock
of the company from $1,000 900 to $780,
000, 900.
Belief in this report is exhibited in the
activity of the stock Immediately follow
ing it's circulation. The newspaper re-
marks: STANDARD Oil stock sold Mon
day at 274 and yesterday at 2S71s, making
an advance in the value of the property
in twenty-four hours of 3,500,000. The
buyers were reported to be parties who
have had very considerable interests in
out of town gas securities. No Standard
Oil people would confirm the rumor that
two shares of stock in new company
would be given for one of the trust COM,
mittee liquidating receipts, but admitted
that in due time new company would
probably be formed, but what its capi-
talization would be was matter yet to
be determined