[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 739 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 739

 To validate conveyances of certain lands in the State of Nevada that 
   form part of the right-of-way granted by the United States to the 
                    Central Pacific Railway Company.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 14, 1997

  Mr. Bryan (for himself and Mr. Reid) introduced the following bill; 
   which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To validate conveyances of certain lands in the State of Nevada that 
   form part of the right-of-way granted by the United States to the 
                    Central Pacific Railway Company.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Reno, Nevada, Railroad Right-of-Way 
Conveyance Validation Act''.

SEC. 2. VALIDATION OF CONVEYANCES.

    Except as provided in section 4, the conveyances described in 
section 3 (involving certain lands in Washoe County, State of Nevada) 
concerning lands that form parts of the right-of-way granted by the 
United States to the Central Pacific Railway Company in the Act 
entitled ``An Act to aid in the Construction of a Railroad and 
Telegraph Line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, and to 
secure to the Government the Use of the same for Postal, Military, and 
Other Purposes,'' approved July 1, 1862 (12 Stat. 489), hereby are 
legalized, validated, and confirmed, as far as any interest of the 
United States in such lands is concerned, with the same force and 
effect as if the land involved in each such conveyance had been held, 
on the date of such conveyance, under absolute fee simple title by the 
grantor of such lands.

SEC. 3. CONVEYANCES OF LANDS IN WASHOE COUNTY, STATE OF NEVADA.

    The conveyances of land in Washoe County, State of Nevada, referred 
to in section 2 are as follows:
            (1) The conveyance entered into between Charles Crocker, 
        grantor, and A. Montminy, grantee, recorded June 10, 1868, in 
        book 2, at page 417, in the deed records of the county of 
        Washoe.
            (2) The conveyance entered into between Charles Crocker, 
        grantor, and U. Harris, grantee, recorded June 22, 1868, in 
        book 2, at page 430, in the deed records of the county of 
        Washoe.
            (3) The conveyance entered into between Charles Crocker, 
        grantor, and Mark Lovely, grantee, recorded July 16, 1868, in 
        book 2, at page 569, in the deed records of the county of 
        Washoe.
            (4) The conveyance entered into between Charles Crocker, 
        grantor, and Marco Medin and Paul Mavrich, grantees, recorded 
        July 20, 1868, in book 2, at page 462, in the deed records of 
        the county of Washoe.
            (5) The conveyance entered into between Charles Crocker, 
        grantor, and S. Barclay, grantee, recorded September 21, 1868, 
        in book 2, at page 513, in the deed records of the county of 
        Washoe.
            (6) The conveyance entered into between Charles Crocker, 
        grantor, and John Piper, grantee, recorded December 18, 1868, 
        in book 2, at page 613, in the deed records of the county of 
        Washoe.
            (7) The conveyance entered into between Charles Crocker, 
        grantor, and William H. Potter, grantee, recorded June 28, 
        1869, in book 3, at page 15, in the deed records of the county 
        of Washoe.
            (8) The conveyance entered into between Charles Crocker, 
        grantor, and O.C. Madden, grantee, recorded November 16, 1870, 
        in book 3, at page 299, in the deed records of the county of 
        Washoe.
            (9) The conveyance entered into between Charles Crocker, 
        grantor, and Peter Zenovich and George Zenovich, grantees, 
        recorded August 12, 1871, in book 3, at page 519, in the deed 
        records of the county of Washoe.
            (10) The conveyance entered into between Charles Crocker, 
        grantor, and Mrs. M.A. Pine, grantee, recorded August 21, 1871, 
        in book 3, at page 527, in the deed records of the county of 
        Washoe.
            (11) The conveyance entered into between Charles Crocker, 
        grantor, and T.R. Hughes, grantee, recorded October 11, 1871, 
        in book 3, at page 552, in the deed records of the county of 
        Washoe.
            (12) The conveyance entered into between Charles Crocker, 
        grantor, and Joseph Leonard, grantee, recorded December 10, 
        1873, in book 4, at page 568, in the deed records of the county 
        of Washoe.
            (13) The conveyance entered into between Charles Crocker, 
        grantor, and S.M. Jamison, grantee, recorded August 17, 1875, 
        in book 5, at page 606, in the deed records of the county of 
        Washoe.
            (14) The conveyance entered into between Charles Crocker, 
        grantor, and W.R. Chamberlain and W.S. Bender, grantees, 
        recorded April 6, 1876, in book 6, at page 77, in the deed 
        records of the county of Washoe.
            (15) The conveyance entered into between Charles Crocker, 
        grantor, and C.S. Martin, grantee, recorded September 29, 1880, 
        in book 8, at page 628, in the deed records of the county of 
        Washoe.
            (16) The conveyance entered into between Charles Crocker, 
        grantor, and E.C. McKenney, grantee, recorded October 7, 1881, 
        in book 9, at page 296, in the deed records of the county of 
        Washoe.
            (17) The conveyance entered into between Charles Crocker, 
        grantor, and Josephine E. McCutchen, grantee, recorded May 2, 
        1891 in book 15, at page 401, in the deed records of the county 
        of Washoe.
            (18) The conveyance entered into between the Southern 
        Pacific Transportation Company, grantor, and Lincoln Management 
        Company, Inc., a Nevada corporation, as to an undivided 50 
        percent interest, Donald L. Carano, a married man, as to an 
        undivided 33 percent interest, and Raymond J. Poncia, Jr., an 
        unmarried man, as to an undivided 17 percent interest, as 
        tenants in common, grantees, recorded September 30, 1988, in 
        book 2806, at page 950, as instrument no. 1278084, in the 
        official records of the county of Nevada.
            (19) The conveyance entered into between the Southern 
        Pacific Transportation Company, grantor, and Western Pacific 
        Development Corp., a Delaware corporation, grantee, recorded 
        October 5, 1988, in book 2809, at page 522, as instrument no. 
        1279168, and by Correction Deed recorded July 31, 1989, in book 
        2943, at page 902, as instrument no. 1340306 in the official 
        records of the county of Nevada.
            (20) The conveyance entered into between the Southern 
        Pacific Transportation Company, grantor, and Zante, Inc., a 
        Nevada corporation, grantee, recorded May 31, 1989, in book 
        2916, at page 825, as instrument no. 1327855 in the official 
        records of the county of Nevada.
            (21) The conveyance entered into between Southern Pacific 
        Transportation Company, grantor, and Frank F. Knafelc, an 
        individual, grantee, recorded September 29, 1989, in book 2971, 
        at page 120, as instrument no. 1352564 in the official records 
        of the county of Nevada.
            (22) The conveyances entered into between the Southern 
        Pacific Transportation Company, grantor, and George E. Croom, 
        Jr., and Sharon M. Croom, as Trustees of The Lake Trust, 
        grantee, recorded August 25, 1990, in book 3131, at page 608, 
        as instrument no. 1422684 in the official records of the county 
        of Nevada.
            (23) The conveyance entered into between the Southern 
        Pacific Transportation Company, grantor, and the Redevelopment 
        Agency of the City of Reno, a governmental agency, grantee, 
        recorded December 11, 1992, in book 3630, at page 297, as 
        instrument no. 1629655 in the official records of the county of 
        Nevada.

SEC. 4. LIMITATIONS ON VALIDATION OF CONVEYANCES.

    (a) Scope.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed to--
            (1) diminish the right-of-way referred to in section 2 to a 
        width of less than fifty feet on each side of the center of the 
        main track or tracks maintained by the Southern Pacific 
        Transportation Company on the date of enactment of this Act; or
            (2) legalize, validate, or confirm, with respect to any 
        land that is subject of a conveyance referred to in section 3, 
        any right or title to, or interest in, such land arising out of 
        adverse possession, prescription, or abandonment, and not 
        confirmed by such conveyance.
            (3) impair any existing rights of access in favor of the 
        public or any owner of adjacent lands over, under or across the 
        lands which are referred to in section 3.
    (b) Minerals.--
            (1) The United States hereby reserves any federally-owned 
        minerals that may exist in land that is conveyed pursuant to 
        section 2 of this Act, including the right of the United 
        States, its assignees or lessees, to enter upon and utilize as 
        much of the surface of said land as is necessary to remove 
        minerals under the laws of the United States.
            (2) Any and all minerals reserved by paragraph (1) are 
        hereby withdrawn from all forms of entry, appropriation, and 
        patent under the mining, mineral leasing, and geothermal 
        leasing laws of the United States.
                                 <all>