County Commissioner Paul Donohue said a meeting will be held May 7 at the Pioche Elementary School regarding the question of residents of Caselton being able to own the property their homes sit on.
He explained through the history of mining in what he called “Caselton Camp,” the mines owned the ground and the residents owned the houses. “For many years, people understood that and that is what they did, he said.”
When the mining company went bankrupt, and about six or seven years ago, a bankruptcy judge awarded the property to Mike Weinrick, leaving it to be his decision what to do with the property.
Donohue said efforts were made to try to have the home owners get the property, and now it has been decided, a trust company, after going through the necessary preliminary steps, is going to deed three parcels of land in question to Lincoln County, and the county will in turn, after surveys are made, deed the property to the individual residents.
He said about 13 families live on the three adjacent parcels, which are about 10 acres each. It will include the camp, and one parcel to the west of that.
The meeting is planned for the elementary school at 6 p.m. Representatives from the company will also attend the Pioche Town Board meeting and discuss some property that also exists near the No. 1 Mine in Pioche. Donohue said talks may also focus on what to do to help with flooding that can occur in the Pioche area. “It comes like crazy out of the hill, too,” he said.
Getting ownership of the land deeded to the residents in Caselton will be a benefit for Lincoln County, Donohue explained, “because then they will be on the tax rolls.”
