1961 Appraisal

In July 1961 Elizabeth “Pete” Bertsche was living outside Detroit and commissioned an appraisal of the property at Sand Run. She wanted to determine a fair price to sell her half of the property, which she inherited from her sister Lydia, to the owners/occupants of the other half. It was assessed at $7,800, and she sold her share for exactly half that amount. The assessment includes an unbiased description of the property as follows:

Summary

The land, 79 acres, is rough, wooded but accessible. The house is large, old, sound, and rentable. It is suitable as a residence, a two-family residence or a hunting club property.

House

The house is a substantial two story frame building with high ceilings, once used, I am told, as a hotel and now arranged for two family dwelling occupancy. The outside dimensions of the building are 44 1 by 44 1 with a two-story porch recessed into the rear corner and with a one story open porch on the front 12 x 17.

There is a heavy stone foundation, a basement with flagstone floor, a first floor with kitchen, dining room and living room (with fireplace) on one side and with a bath, a large kitchen and a large living room on the other. There is a center common hall and stairway.

On the second floor there are seven rooms and one bath. There is one large hot air, coal fired furnace for the entire house but there are two electric water heaters. Kitchens both have cabinet sinks. Floors are generally good softwood, walls are plastered (some wainscoting), and there are several metal ceilings.

Chimneys are good. Paint is fair, roof fair to good. Plumbing fair to good. Telephone and electricity are available and connected. Water is taken directly from Sand Run, with a pond and a pump. Sewerage is by cesspool. Estimated replacement cost new is about $54,000.

Other Buildings

A two-story, two-car frame garage with no floors is located south of the house with an estimated replacement cost of about $1,500. Also, there is a small picnic pavilion.

Land

The land is crossed by two highways, and two streams. One stream, Wilson Creek is polluted by mine water. The other, Sand Run, is good fresh water, but is small and precipitous. It is almost entirely wooded with a variety of natural growth trees. There is a fairly steep slope down to the stream beds and to the area of the house.

The setting is pretty and the site, except for the steepness and the bisecting roads would be good hunting land. It is not much good for anything else at present except to grow forest. There is likely to be some coal underlying but probably not for economical mining.