Skinner—Appraisal of Railroad Property. 803 
namely 2.5. In view of the foregoing facts, this ratio seems to 
he quite low enough. 7 
There is in this state no example of a right of way recently 
purchased through a city of considerable size. After due con¬ 
sideration and comparison of previous appraisals, the ratios 
adopted by the engineer of the state board of assessment were 
1.331/3 for right of way 100 feet wide or less, and 1.10 for 
right of way more than 100 feet wide. The figures adopted in 
the Michigan appraisal were 200 per cent of the ordinary value 
for cities with a population of more than 3,000, and 225 per 
cent of the ordinary value for cities and villages with a pop¬ 
ulation of less than 3,000, plus $8.50 per acre for severance 
charges. 8 1 
That the figures used in the Wisconsin appraisal are rather 
too low than too high, was borne out by the results that came 
to light in the investigation that was carried out by Mr. Brandt 
on the Dixon-Peoria branch of the Chicago and Northwestern, 
about one mile of which lies in the city of Peoria. The mar¬ 
ket value of this right of way was determined by the same 
method that had already been used in Wisconsin and which 
is described on page 808. This value was determined from 
254 transfers, representing a value of $535,472, all made be¬ 
tween July 1, 1900, and March 31, 1901. The assessed value 
of this property was found to be 80 per cent of the aggregate 
sale price. Using this figure as a basis, the ordinary value of 
the right of way was determined to be $1,120 per acre. The 
records showed that the railway company had paid $3,096 per 
7 It was argued by the representatives of some of the roads that the 
methods employed to find the ordinary value of the farm lands ad¬ 
jacent to the railroad right of way gave too low a value, and conse¬ 
quently made the ratio of the right of way value to the ordinary value 
too high. It must not he forgotten, however, that this would have 
little influence upon the right of way value as deduced from the ordi¬ 
nary value, since after all the right of way value is the fixed quantity 
in the equation by which the ratio is determined. It matters little 
whether the ratio be low or high, provided the ordinary value be deter¬ 
mined in the same manner throughout the state and the ratio is rea¬ 
sonable with respect to the ordinary value so determined. 
8M. E. Cooley: Instructions relative to right of way, 1901. 
