John Christopher Burr and LeRoy Cramer,
old time Lassen county California family,
ponder the possibilities.

Wild Horse Acres

Located at the Oregon, California, and Idaho cross roads of the Oregon Trail, Wild Horse Acres is a 1700 acres of unfenced, unbridled, and untamed range land, surrounded by 1.2 million acres of United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land, State Refuges, Forests, military and indian reservations. The range between California, Oregon, Nevada, and Idaho make up a managed area for wild horses.

Tired of congested humanity, sucking bad air?

Long for the great out doors, sounds of silence, and clear skies to see for ever?

Own your own half mile by half mile, 1700 acres surrounded by no one. This property has a "Right" to build a home. Where are you going to find that in the big city?

Lassen County California. Population - few. Litchfield, population - hardly any, is 9 miles on Highway 395 in Lassen County to the southwest. Ravendale, population - few if any, is 28 miles due north on Highway 395. Susanville, a small reasonably populated city in the area is 28 miles west by southwest; Safeway, McDonalds, Taco Bell, KFC, and other large chain franchises are located in Susanville. Reno Nevada is the largest closest city some 90 miles to the south on Highway 395.

Lassen and Modoc counties are the last remaining truly remote areas in California. With the foundation of the Death Valley National Park, there is little land left which qualifies as truly remote land in California which can be owned by a citizen. Here is a piece of property waiting for you.

Just east of Susanville are Lassen and Plumas National Forests of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Besides being very beautiful, these national forests make up about two thirds of Lassen County. These national forests will protect Lassen from excessive population growth for a long time.

Statistics from the Susanville Chamber of Commerce. Susanville is the county seat of Lassen County. Susanville has a population of 16,200, contains about 78% of the population of Lassen County, and is growing at 16% per year. Susanville has schools including a college, hospitals, financial institutions, and a prison.

Susanville is growing by leaps and bounds. For several years now, Susanville is one of the fastest growing cities in California.

All the roads in Lassen County eventually lead to Susanville. Lassen County does not suffer from a lot of earthquakes. Also, one may note that there are no freeways in Lassen County at this time. No earthquakes, no freeways, few people, and still in California make Lassen County a great place to live.

Just 28 miles east of Susanville and 9 miles north east of Litchfield lies a county road named Smoke Creek Ranch Road. Smoke Creek Ranch Road leads from Highway 395 to the Nevada border and the Smoke Creek desert some 50 miles away, east. This sign sits at the junction of Highway 395 and Smoke Creek Ranch Road.

Some of the important things to note about this picture are the railroad tracks and power lines. Also, this is the turn off where the property is located just after the railroad crossing on Highway 395 heading north.

The center of the property is important because of the road which leads off to the east and the sign post. When looking at the plat map , this junction is almost dead center of both parcels. It becomes obvious the difference between a county maintained road and one which is not maintained. More or less, the road to the east is the Oregon Trail and it is not maintained. Any way, this road can not be blocked off.

The road to the right requires an all terrain vehicle no matter what time of year it is or what the weather is. Don't take a normal car on this road. This is range country, there are snakes, wild animals, and hunters, be prepared. There is no water and the closest store is Litchfield and many times it doesn't have gas.

Things you can do.

This is obviously range land. You can raise a few cattle or grow crops. I was told barley and alfalfa grows on this land. LeRoy Cramer doubts you'd make money farming this land.

You can start a dude ranch and raise a few horses. This would make a great KOA campground. As the governments wild horse facility is only 3 miles south on Highway 395, you could get a good deal on horses. Have people come out for a week or two and do nothing but ride the range.

Heaven forbid, you could subdivide it. Build one small house a year. Sell the second house for a modest profit. Build another house and sell it the next year. This 1700 acres is already subdivided into two 80 acre parcels. Build two houses and sell one and get yours paid off. No permits necessary for two homes but subdividing it further would take permission.

If you are a writer, programmer, retired, or the such, you could build a house and be away from the crowd. Build something different. This would make a nice vacation house.

However, if you like bright lights and disco dancing, the closest bright lights and disco is hundred miles away in Reno, Nevada.

Another possibility is making in a low profile industrial area. The locals are hungry for commerce. The Alturas Transmission lines are about a mile a way. There is a power generating facility less than 10 miles. Commercially speaking, the property is close to major power, remote but easily accessible, and dirt cheap.

Appraisal Value

Appraising the value of land is one of the toughest things there is to do. Land's value depends on what one is going to do with it. If one purchases land for investment, there is one value. If one purchases land to build on it, there is another value, If one purchases land to farm or ranch, there is altogether a different value. If one purchases land to mine it, there is yet another value.

The County Assessor assessed the property at $500 per acre for a 1700 acre parcel. $80,000 in 1996 but reassessed at $24k in 1997 when I said I wasn't going to build a geothermal electric plant just yet.

Reliable Appraisal: Virgil R. Gleason, Senior Appraiser, Redwood City, California, appraised this land at $800 per acre for the same 1700 acres without water, connection to a year around road, power lines nor a gas line.

Byron H. Cunningham, Realtor-appraiser, Santa Cruz, California 95060, 1985 appraised the property at $80,000 also.

The value of this property is not in its investment potential. Nor do I believe gold, silver, or oil will be found there. What I know about cattle, chickens, and vegetables is you can buy all you want at Safeway. To me personally, the value of this land is in its fresh air and lack of people. That and it will make a real good power plant location.

One of the beautiful aspect of this property however, is its price. Generally speaking, this is cheap California land. But when one takes into account the cost of a permit to build in a typical California city, this land is dirt cheap. No permit required, no permit fees.

The average price of an acre of good buildable land in San Francisco and Los Angeles is well over $500,000. In San Francisco, an auction for one lousy acre of buildable land, started at $6,000,000 and ended at $13,600,000. Most the time, just a lot, 50 by 100, 5000 square feet, 0.1147 acres, sells for well over $100,000. In the Santa Cruz mountains, a very pretty area, an acre of land which can not be built on goes for $35,000. Recently in Half Moon Bay, just south of San Francisco, somewhat rural, 120 acres with 95 of them straight up and down, all scrub brush, and no water went for $250,000. Within the big valley, the Sacramento valley, the average acre of scrub agricultural land sells for about $3000 and prime property about $10,000 an acre. The across the road neighbors want $10,000 an acre for their property.

Considering this property's relativity, it's relatively close to a town, it's relatively close to power, it's relatively accessible by car, and it has telephone service, yet fully qualifies as "Lost Lands No Where" California, this property is precious. One of the last true historic pieces of the wild west is for sale here and now. One quarter section for you to do almost any thing you want and one point two million acres to play in.

Working on the concept of making this property a historical campground, with underground quarters, and wild horse stable; getting permits, locating water, supplying power, that sort of thing, makes the posibility this property's value will increase.

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