Origins of Moffett Field
Email, 13 Aug 1996
by Doug DeLong
Today I had a chance to run down some information about how Moffett Field
came into being as a Naval Air Station. Previously I had been under the
impression that citizens of Mountain View and Sunnyvale had collected money
to buy the property for donation to the Navy. My findings today were not
exactly consistent with that impression.
Inquiring at the reference desk of the Mountain View Public Library, I was
directed to a book of Moffett Field history written on the occasion of the
25th anniversary of the establishment of the Naval Air Station. The book
is under call number R 359.7, but I did not record its title or author.
In 1929 and 1930 the U.S. Navy was looking for a site for a west coast derigible
base and had narrowed the initial long list to 2 finalists, Camp Kearney
near San Diego and what is now Moffett Field. During these years the San
Jose Chamber of Commerce (CofC) was active in the process of selling the
Navy on the Moffett Field site, including compiling and supplying data to
the Navy.
Camp Kearney would have been available for $1.00 so the locals here came
up with a plan to match that price. The San Jose CofC acted as fiscal agent
for a drive to collect donations to purchase 1,000 acres at roughly $500.00
per acre. The book indicated that 6 parcels were to be assembled. CofCs
in San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose together with Junior Chambers of
Commerce in the cities of San Francisco and San Jose and the counties of
San Francisco, Alameda, and Santa Clara participated in the drive to raise
the funds.
A federal statute introduced by Congressman Arthur M. Free of San Jose was
signed into law on February 20, 1931 that authorized acceptance of the site
free of cost to the Navy for construction of a Naval Air Station. (I did
not think about it before writing this, but I should check that statute;
it may constrain use of the property - possibly making the transfer to NASA
unlawful.) On July 31, 1931 the title to the site was conveyed to the United
States of America.
Following up in the Santa Clara County Recorder's Office, I found that on
July 31, 1931 in Book 577 of Official Records on pages 276-278 document
number J14630 was recorded. This is a warranty deed conveying the site from
San Jose Abstract and Title Insurance Company to the United States of America
for the consideration of $1.00. Unfortunately for our cause, no restrictions
on future use are contained in the deed.
The legal description in the deed refers to a survey map of Naval Air Station
- Sunnyvale, California filed June 18, 1931 as document J11639 in Book T
of Maps on page 47. That map identifies the size and former owners of 8
parcels (2 of which are narrow strips along Whisman Rd, perhaps accounting
for the discrepancy compared to the history book) totalling exactly 1,000
acres. Curiously, the complete site consists of a western finger of the
Ynigo Rancho - the north, west, and south boundaries of the site are also
boundaries of the Rancho.
At the Recorder's Office I also found a financing statement filed July 2,
1996 as document 13353749 in Book P402 of Official Records on pages 1639-1646.
This gives the City of Mountain View certain Space Camp assets as collateral
and contains the legal descriptions of 2 local parcels where this collateral
will be located. The first parcel has the same legal description as document
J14630 and also refers to the map described above. The second parcel is
about 2-1/4 acres near the front gate of Moffett, possibly where the Space
Camp is located. Presumably the first parcel is the present Moffett Federal
Airfield property, so I am not sure why the area of Moffett Field is quoted
in other sources as 2,000 or 3,000 acres.
Today I looked up the statute authorizing the Secretary of the Navy
to accept a donation of land for a lighter-than-air base near Sunnyvale,
CA. The statute was passed by Congress on February 12, 1931 as Chapter 122
in Session III of the 71st Congress. It appears in United States Statutes
at Large, Volume 46, Part 1, on page 1092.
As far as the title to the land is concerned, all this statute did was delegate
to the Secretary of the Navy the power vested by the Constitution in Congress
to acquire property for the United States in this specific instance. The
statute contains no language restricting future use of the land.
After Congress authorized accepting a donation of land for a Naval Air
Station near Sunnyvale, an appropriations bill was passed on March 4, 1931
as Chapter 522 in Session III of the 71st Congress. One provision of this
bill, appearing in United States Statutes at Large, Volume 46, Part 1 on
page 1557, provided initial construction funds for Moffett Field.
It stipulated that no expenditure for premanent improvements be made until
title to not less than 1000 acres had been acquired by the United States
via donation. Now it becomes clear why exactly 1000.000 acres are tabulated
on the survey map referenced in the warranty deed to the United States.
A little History Note
via email
Just a little History note. Moffett is the last remaining intact Land Grant
in the California. It was called Posolmi and was granted by Govenor Micheltorena
to Ynigo an American Indian in 1844/ It was occationaly referred to as Pozita
de Las Animas, locally translated as "Little Wells of the Souls".
Reference is SANTA CLARA COUNTY RANCHOS byARBUCKLE-RAMBO.
- Geraldine Rosenberg (aka as Granny)