Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-07
STORY OF HOW
TIDELAND WAS
GAINED IS TOLD
DOCUMENTS SHOW PROPERTY
BOUGHT AT 81 AN ACRE
TOTAL PAID FOR ACREAGE NOW
IN DISPUTE WAS $1s.4s
Later a Deed Transferring It to the
Southern Pacific Railroad Com-
pany Was Executed
by Banning

-" OW the Southern Pacific company
became possessed of tidelands
AA location 50 on San Pedro harbor
the property in dispute in the quiet
title action now on trial before Judge
Bordwell of the superior court, was
told in the documentary evidence Of
fered by the defendant corporations
yesterday.
The state, which is seeking to recover
the lands for public harbor purposes
closed its case in chief early in the
day and the corporations opened their
defense with the introduction of numer-
Gus records, maps and diagrams, fol-
lowing this with the testimony of sew
eral witnesses. The state probably will
be heard in rebuttal this afternoon or
tomorrow.
The first offer by the defense yester-
day was the judgment of the district
court, giving William L. Banning the
right to purchase the land in con-
troversy over E. c. Learned, who had
contested that right. Judge Bordwell
ruled that this evidence was not bind
ing in the cases on trial as the contest
was between private individuals.
Paid 81 an Acre
Then followed the record of the ap-
proval of Banning's application for a
patent to the land, providing for the
payment by Banning to the county
treasurer within fifty days after De-
cember 70, 1881, of $1S.43, or about 81
an acre, for the land that is now
valued at many thousands of dollars.
This record was admitted into the evil
dence over the formal objection of At
torney General Webb, who stated there
I,o+ nt1t11 ~ iyiD n q
the surveyor general to execute this
approval.
A certificate showing that the money
had been paid by Banning was ad-
mitted, and this was followed by the
certified copy of the patent from the
state to William L. Banning, dated
August 4, 1888, conveying to him the
land involved in the present suit.
Another document was later intro
duced and admitted into the evidence
showing a transfer by deed Of location
60 from Banning to the Southern Pa
cific Railroad company September "a
1883, and this was followed by the
lease. dated June &C. 1902 by which the
Southern Pacific Railroad company
turned over all it's property to the
Southern Pacific company.
Deed Is Kept Out
Mr.. Webb successfully resisted an at
tempt by the defense to introduce a
deed from j. f. c. Johnson to the
Southern Pacific Railroad company,
dated July H. 1882, transferring to the
corporation title to land in the Palos
Verdes ranch.
"The land described in Johnson's deed
is not a part of location &c." said At
torney Karr for the Southern Pacific,
"but there is a dispute where the tide
lands end and the ranch grant begins.
We claim the grant from the ranch eX-
tends to the high tide line. The state
in its description includes in location
50 part of the ranch The question is
Where is the line?"
1--WE claim nothing back of the high
water mark" declared Mr.. Webb, add
ing that the present action was not
one of possession and that right of way
and franchise privileges by which the
railroad holds temporary possession of
the lands are not in question.
William Nillen, wharf and bridge
builder who superintended the con-
struction of bridges for the Southern
Pacific on its line from San Pedro to
Wilmington, was one of the principal
witnesses called by the defense, stating
that the railroad was built on piles
from the San Pedro Lumber company
property south to what was then
known as Thayal. South of that point
he said, no piles were used.
Bulkheads, he said, were constructed
in order to protect the track, and these
bulkheads were built at the ordinary
high water mark. In reply to ques-
tion by Attorney Anderson of states
counsel he said bulkheads were not con-
structed on each side of the track.