Susanville’s founder, Isaac Roop, happened to be the town’s first realtor. In 1861 he began selling town plots, though it was not until 1863, when Roop hired E.R. Nichols survey the initial town.
Roop, as the old saying phrase goes, did a “land office business” as a real estate agent. During his eight years that there are records for, he sold 194 lots for a grand total $34,143.50. A nice tidy sum, especially considering Roop never owned the land.
When a U.S. Government Land Office was opened in Susanville in 1871, it was discovered that Roop had never taken the proper procedures to procure title to the townsite. Thus, owners of town lots were vulnerable to claim jumpers, who could file a patent process with the Government Land Office and become the rightful owner of the town. It literally took an act of the U.S. Congress to rectify the situation and on May 20, 1872, Congress approved a townsite and vested title in all lots to the District Court Judge. The judge then had the task to reissue deeds to the current owners to the town lots.
Using the online “Purchasing Power Calculator,” Roop’s $34,000 income from lot sales would be worth $743,000 in today’s dollars!