CALIFORNIA CITY — Some of the main structures at the abandoned Silver Saddle Ranch were destroyed in a fire discovered early Thursday morning. The location was previously associated with a land sales scheme that left thousands of victims.
The property at 20751 Aristotle Drive in California City once sparkled with promise, welcoming families and other looking for a quiet getaway in the Mojave Desert and perhaps the fortune developers of the Silver Saddle Ranch promised investors.
According to an expired Loopnet.com real estate listing of the property from June 3, 2020, the resort property first developed in 1981 included a 47-room hotel, RV park, campgrounds, equestrian center, conference center, two swimming pools, restaurant with commercial kitchen and indoor and outdoor dining areas and a man-made lake.
A YouTube channel called 10 minutes to Explore visited the property in March, sharing video of what the abandoned property looked like before the fire.
Jeremy Ruiz, public information officer for Kern County Fire Department, said in an email Thursday afternoon that firefighters responded to the fire at approximately 12:30 a.m., arriving on the scene to find one of the main housing structures fully involved in flames.
“Crews immediately prioritized protecting nearby structures and preventing the fire from spreading,” Ruiz said. “With surrounding grass and brush also involved, the fire began spreading eastward. Once firefighters successfully stopped the fire’s progression, operations shifted to mop-up and ensuring full containment.”
Mop-up was continuing early Thursday afternoon, with smoke still rising from some charred debris and vegetation.
Ruiz said the isolated location presented significant challenges for firefighters, particularly with the lack of an on-site water supply.
“Fire engines had to continually shuttle water from an off-site location to meet the demands of the firefighting operation,” he said.
He added that the cause of the fire remains unknown, and no injuries were reported.
Silver Saddle shutdown
Beginning in 2011, according to a court filing by the state Department of Business Oversight (now known as Department of Financial Protection and Innovation), companies tied to Silver Saddle, offered and sold securities in the form of an investment called LandBanking Plus+ or The Galileo Project. By the time of the shut-down, more than 3,000 investors gave or contractually committed millions of dollars. Generally, payments between $20,000 and $30000 were paid for an undivided 1/4000th fractionalized interest in a parcel of about 1,020 acres. The state claimed that agents for Silver Saddle made numerous misleading and false statements to the buyers.
In May 2018, the state of California shut down the operation, alleging securities fraud that impacted nearly 3,000 people, Filipino, Chinese, and Hispanic communities. In July, a state agency mailed checks totaling more than $7 million in restitution to victims of the fraud.
The property was turned over to a receiver and was sold in 2020, according to reporting in the Mojave Desert News. Kern County Recorder online records show that the buyer, Aaron Mamaan, transferred the property to Traditional Ranch Holdings, LLC, by quitclaim deed on July 7, 2021. Efforts to reach a representative of Traditional Ranch Holdings on Thursday afternoon were not successful.
Claudia Elliott is founder and editor of The Mojave Beat. She can be reached by email: claudia@mojavebeat.news.