796 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
way. The areas of all irregularly shaped pieces were deter¬ 
mined by planimeter measurements. 
The range of methods available was somewhat restricted by 
the state hoard of assessment when it decided that the appraisal 
should he based on sales of land! near the right of, way made 
within the five-year period ending June 30, 1903. The instruc¬ 
tions upon this point issued by the engineer of the board and 
approved by the board in June 1903 are as follows: 
“In this appraisal the value of the land for other purposes 
must be determined as accurately as is reasonably possible, 
the average value, at the various county seats, as shown by the 
records of the transfers of property for the five-year period 
ending June 30, 1902, in the section traversed by the road, and 
by consultation with disinterested, reliable local real estate 
and business men, bank cashiers, etc.” 
The problem set before the men charged with the 
duty of appraising the right of way of the various 
roads was, therefore, to carry out as economically as pos¬ 
sible under the circumstances the plan outlined by the 
board. As a matter of fact, the carrying out of this plan, 
which was so clearly outlined and which is a model of its kind, 
was attended by many practical difficulties. 
In what follows, it is proposed to discuss briefly the plan out¬ 
lined for the appraisal of the right of way of the railroads and 
the problems that arose in carrying out the plan, and finally 
to make a brief criticism of the methods employed. 
THE RATIO OF RIGHT OF WAY VALUE TO ORDINARY VALUE. 
Before going on to describe the actual methods employed in 
making the appraisal, it is advisable to take up in some detail 
another matter which was the occasion of long and earnest dis¬ 
cussion between the representatives of the various roads and 
the representatives of the state board of assessment. It is, 
namely, the relation between the value of the land for ordinary 
purposes and its value as railroad right of way. It may well 
be doubted whether the land occupied by the right of way is 
more valuable than the land belonging to the farm or the lot 
