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In the last page of the 1953 Receiver's Deed to San Miguel County under the heading "OTHER <br />PROPERTY: "it states the following: "Any and all other real estate and interests in real estate <br />in San Miguel County, Colorado, owned by or standing in the name of the Rio Grande Southern <br />Railroad Company, except rrghts of way conveyed to the Department of Highways, State of <br />Colorado, under deed dated on or about February 17, 1953". This is an example of a "catch all" <br />clause in a deed. They are referring to real property in fee simple that the RGSRR owned after it <br />abandoned the railroad's rights of way and easements that may have been missed in this deed. It <br />is not meant to convey all the land that was ever considered a right of way or easement for the <br />RGSRR in San Miguel County, Colorado. The RGSRR's Receiver knew that it could not <br />convey real property that it d.id not own. Per Federal Statute rights of way and easement <br />acquired by permit by the US Govermnent across public lands revests to the US Government <br />upon abandonment of right of way and easement. They could not convert a permit to a fee <br />simple title. <br />In summary, if San Miguel County did not acquire a fee simple interest in any abandoned <br />RGSRR railroad and easement in Section 32 of Township 42 North, Range 9 West in the said <br />1953 Receiver's Deed, how did it feel it could clear the title to the ownership of the above <br />described mining claims and real property it was alleged to convey in the subject Quit Claim <br />Deed from San Miguel County to PDI. <br />The opinion of this report is that San Miguel County never had the ownership of the said <br />abandoned rights of way and easements that cross the above described mining claims and real <br />property in the subject Quit Claim Deed from SMC to PDI, is further evidenced by the Pipe Line <br />Easement deed dated June 8, 1956 from Monarch Mines, Inc., a corporation of the State of <br />Colorado to the Western Colorado Power Company, a corporation of the State of Colorado that <br />conveyed a right of way and easement for the pipeline in the same abandoned RGSRR railroad <br />right of way and easement as it crossed the same mining claims described in the subject Quit <br />Claim Deed from San Miguel County to PDI. <br />The Westem Colorado Power Company, which did their due diligence on the ownership of the <br />abandoned railroad right of cvay, and had access to the same 1953 Receiver's Deed to San <br />Miguel County, determined that the ownership of the abandoned right of way and easement as it <br />crossed the lands described in the subject Quit Claim Deed from San Miguel County to PDI, was <br />vested in The Western Colorado Power Company not San Miguel County. <br />One may be able to make the case that the abandoned right of way that was originally acquired <br />by a permit on US Government land would eventually revert to the private property owners of <br />record. <br />A court action quieting the title to the subject area is the correct way to establish the ownership <br />of the lands described as that portion of the abandoned Rio Grande Southern Railroad Right of <br />Way as described in the subject Quit Claim Deed from SMC to PDI. Having SMC grant a quit <br />claim deed on such a thin claim of title does not help remove a cloud on the title but create more <br />questions as to the true ownership of that portion of the abandoned Rio Grande Southern <br />Railroad Right of Way as de>cribed in the subject Quit Claim Deed from SMC to PDI. <br />4 <br />