Private Property For Sale On Mt. Wilson

John Heflin Bierke

This is a historical page from the year 2000 which gives some interesting info about a piece of land on Mt. Wilson. I don't know what happened to the land. The contact information from the owner in the year 2000 no longer works, so I removed it.


For Trade or Sale,
160 acres of virgin land in the
Angeles National Forest.
If you want weekend seclusion,
an hour drive from downtown Los Angeles,
this property is for you!

Secluded mountain property with the most fabulous view imaginable of the city of Los Angles. The property is rugged and at its highest point is about 5,000 feet and at the lowest 3,500 feet. The view is truly breath taking, you can see the whole LA basin (From Santa Monica in the north, west the ocean out beyond Catalina Island and south beyond Anaheim as far as one can see). At night the city lights are fantastic. Winter Creek starts just above the property, spring feed, and at the bottom of the property, even during drought, is filled with the sweetest water on earth (3 ft deep and five feet wide). When I was young we had a cabin on the property, but I had it removed in 1969, while surveying in Vietnam.

As the crow flies, the property is about 15 miles from down town L.A, 7 miles from Pasadena and 4 miles from Altadena (entrance to the Old Mt Wilson Toll Road). The property is on the Pacific face of Mount Wilson, one mile from the Mt. Wilson Observatory gate. Although I have not been to the property in many years it has been reported to me that the Old Mt. Wilson Toll Road is currently well graded and in good condition. As a property owner you can take a vehicle on this road which is not open to the public. The Old Toll Road comes within a few hundred feet of the property just south of Mt. Harvard, which is on the West Side of Mt. Wilson. From LA, via Altadena (next to Pasadena), it is a 1 hour drive to my property (9 miles on the windy old Mt. Wilson Toll Road). The other way to get to the property is via the Angelest Crest Hwy, up to MT Wilson and about 1 mile down the Toll Rd. This is about a 3-hr drive from downtown LA.

Although I am not sure exactly when the property was acquired, it has been in the family for over a hundred years. The family story is that my Grandfather who was the Court Reporter in the bankruptcy proceedings after Gould attempted and failed to corner the gold market, bought the property for $5,000. This was before the turn of the last century and the establishment of the Forest Service. In those days even though LA was a small city, 30,000 hikers, every weekend, would enjoy what is now the Angeles National Forest and many people owned land and had weekend retreats in the forest. The Forest Service since its establishment has driven virtually everyone out of the forest and I think that I am the only significant remaining landowner.

The Angeles National Forest did make an assessment of my property in 1999 and offered me a paltry $98,000, which I turned down. I have no idea what the property is worth. I live in the Washington D.C. area and would really enjoy trading the property for land a little closer to home. Any offer of trade and or purchase (1031 Exchange) will be given serious consideration.

Property Description: Angeles National Forest/Los Angeles County/Mount Wilson Quadrangle, Southeast quarter (1/4) of Section Thirty-two (32), Township Two (2) North, Range Eleven (11), West SBB&M, consisting of 160 acres more or less.

Note from Tom Chester: I have placed this information online free of charge since this is interesting information about the ANF. I have no connection with John Bierke, and know little about this property. As always, Caveat Emptor!


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Copyright © 2000 by Tom Chester.
Permission is freely granted to reproduce any or all of this page as long as credit is given to me at this source:
http://tchester.org/sgm/places/mt_wilson_land_for_sale.html
Comments and feedback: Tom Chester
Updated 26 July 2000.