Marshall Kane's Land Speculation?

George P. Kane was an active buyer and seller of land in Baltimore County during the 1850s. One of his most notable was his purchase of the Rockdale flour mill at a bankruptcy auction in 1858, for which he paid $8,300 for the property, plus $6,025 for the ground rent, a total of $14,325 [BA LR, GHC 24, p. 49-52]. According to the advertisement of the auction, the total property was comprised of a 7 acre tract on the west side of the Jones falls and an 18 acre tract on the east side, for 25 acres total [Baltimore County Advocate, 24 April 1858; The Sun, 20 April 1858]. The previous owner, Samuel Tonge, had bought the mill in 1851 for $25,000 [BA LR, AWB 365, p. 241-244]; the auction notice indicates that Tonge had purchased 28 acres, but 3 acres had been condemned by Baltimore City to protect the quality of water in the Jones Falls.

Kane sold all of the Rockdale property in 1859 and 1860 for a total of $9,104 (total acreage not quite equal to 25 because of rounding):

There is no obvious indication that Kane intended to purchase the mill and flip it for a profit, though that possibility certainly exists. As it was, the mill burned in September, 1859, and does not seem to have been rebuilt.

It is similarly unclear whether Kane purchased land in Baltimore County in the hope that it would be condemned by the city, to protect its water supply, and take in the compensation for a profit. Kane purchased six pieces of land  in the 1850s (none before, apparently); except for the Rockford tract, the land was not near the Jones Falls. Some was along the Baltimore & Harford Turnpike. He also purchased several properties on the east bank of the Patapsco, near Cleaphers Creek. Kane and James L. Sutton sold parts of this land back and forth to each other, for reasons which are unclear. See chart.

Kane's MSA bio says he was released from Ft. McHenry in 1862 on condition that he leave the North; he returned to Baltimore by 1873. He neither sold nor purchased land after 1860.