Sabathe v. Gale

188 P.2d 68, 83 Cal. App. 2d 182, 1948 Cal. App. LEXIS 1065
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 8, 1948
DocketCiv. No. 3805
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 188 P.2d 68 (Sabathe v. Gale) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sabathe v. Gale, 188 P.2d 68, 83 Cal. App. 2d 182, 1948 Cal. App. LEXIS 1065 (Cal. Ct. App. 1948).

Opinion

BARNARD, P. J.

This is an action to determine the common boundary between two lode mining claims in Riverside County.

On November 20, 1934, the plaintiffs located the “Southern Cross No. 4” mining claim on unsurveyed government land. It extended 1,500 feet northerly and southerly and 600 feet in width, being 300 feet on each side of the lode line containing the point of discovery. On December 15, 1934, the plaintiffs also located the “Lone Star” mining claim, adjoining the Southern Cross claim on the east. This claim also extended 1,500 feet northerly and southerly and 600 feet in width, being 300 feet on each side of the lode line containing the point of discovery. Thus, the east side line of the Southern Cross claim was identical with the west side of [184]*184the Lone Star claim, and the two points of discovery were approximately 600 feet apart. Both claims were legally claimed and monumented, and location notices were recorded and were posted in monuments at the respective points of discovery.

On April 9, 1935, the plaintiffs sold the Lone Star claim on contract to the defendant. While this deal was being made the defendant noticed a certain “open cut” near the dividing line between the two claims. She inquired whether this cut was on her claim and was told that it was. A year or two later, it was discovered that this cut was actually on the Southern Cross claim. The plaintiffs then voluntarily moved the dividing line between the two claims 53 feet westerly and marked the new dividing line with a row of monuments and stakes with notices attached, thus giving the defendant an additional 53 feet in order to make good their statement that this cut was upon her claim.

On January 31, 1945, the defendant, with her son and others, and the plaintiff Sabathe, went to the claims together. They found that the original notice for the location of the Lone Star claim was then in a monument at the “open cut” near the boundary between the two claims and Sabathe discovered that the original monument, discovery hole and notice for the Lone Star claim had been removed and destroyed. Sabathe told them that the place where the notice was then found, at the “open cut” near the boundary line, was not the place of discovery, but the defendant and her son insisted that it was and, over his protest, posted an amended notice of location at that point. On March 6,1945, the defendant and her son, with a surveyor, returned to the claims and posted a second amended location notice at the “open cut” and had the surveyor survey a claim, using that point as the center and setting stakes for new corners with the result that the Lone Star claim, as claimed under the amended location notice, was moved 300 feet westerly, taking in 247 feet of the Southern Cross claim in addition to the 53 feet which had already been given to the defendant. It is this 247 feet which is in controversy here.

At some time after 1935, the defendant had also purchased a one-fourth interest in the Southern Cross claim, which she still owns. The defendant applied for a patent on the Lone Star claim in accordance with the survey which was thus made. The plaintiff Sabathe visited the claim and found the [185]*185second amended location notice with the plat and notice of application for patent posted at the “open cut” near the boundary between the two claims and he then restored the monument at its original place on the Lone Star claim, approximately 600 feet east of the point of discovery on the Southern Cross claim, and placed a copy of the original location'notice therein. He then filed an adverse claim in the United States Land Office and brought this action for the purpose of determining the true boundary between the two claims.

The trial court filed a memorandum decision holding that the point of beginning for finding the boundary of the Southern Cross claim would be at the discovery monument on that claim, a point which was thoroughly established in the evidence, and that the east line of that claim would be the west line of the Lone Star claim, as determined by measurements from this well-established point of beginning. Findings were accordingly made in favor of the plaintiffs and a judgment entered decreeing that the two amended location notices filed by the defendant and her survey and application for patent were unfounded and void, insofar as the 247 feet here in question is concerned, and that if the defendant acquired any right, title or interest through the filing of her amended location notices she acquired the same as trustee for the plaintiffs insofar as the 247 feet is concerned. From this judgment the defendant has appealed.

The appellant contends that certain of the findings are not supported by substantial evidence and are uncertain and conflicting ; that some of the conclusions of law are erroneous for the same reasons; that the judgment is uncertain and contains conflicting provisions; and that the court failed to find upon several matters which are claimed to be material.

It is unnecessary to consider, in detail, the many points raised by the appellant. They are all based upon the contention that there was a “new discovery place” at the “open cut” near the boundary between the two claims which should be taken as the discovery point of the Lone Star claim, from which the 300 feet each way should be measured; that the court has failed to find and indicate the precise point of discovery on each of these claims; and that the evidence is insufficient to support the material findings made and the judgment based thereon. In making her argument appellant ignores the evidence which is unfavorable to her and relies [186]*186on the so-called “new discovery place” when this has no immediate relation to the problem here presented. While a new discovery was later made at the “open cut” near the boundary line between the two claims no relocation or amended location was made, and this was never used, except as the appellant attempted it, as a discovery place for locating the claim which had long before been located by use of a discovery point some 300 feet easterly from the “open cut,” and which had been maintained as such for many years until the monument was destroyed and the notice removed, apparently by the appellant or her agents.

The evidence is overwhelming that the discovery point on the Southern Cross claim was clearly marked on the ground and that it was at the point where the court found and held it to be. That fact alone clearly establishes that the boundary line in question is approximately 300 feet easterly from that point, which entirely destroys all of the appellant’s contentions. There is also substantial evidence to establish the location of the original discovery point of the Lone Star claim, and that this was approximately 600 feet easterly from the discovery point on the Southern Cross claim. Assuming that there was some conflict in the evidence with respect to this latter location, it hardly seems possible that the trial court could have taken a contrary view of that evidence in the light of two other undisputed facts. The respondent Sabathe was a miner of many years’ experience in this locality. Twenty-five days after he located the Southern Cross claim he located the Lone Star claim immediately to the east thereof, and with the same dimensions.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Wilson v. Kopp
250 P.2d 166 (California Court of Appeal, 1952)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
188 P.2d 68, 83 Cal. App. 2d 182, 1948 Cal. App. LEXIS 1065, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sabathe-v-gale-calctapp-1948.