Woodard v. West Side Mill Co.

86 P. 579, 43 Wash. 308, 1906 Wash. LEXIS 697
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 28, 1906
DocketNo. 6213
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 86 P. 579 (Woodard v. West Side Mill Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Woodard v. West Side Mill Co., 86 P. 579, 43 Wash. 308, 1906 Wash. LEXIS 697 (Wash. 1906).

Opinion

Mount, C. J.

This action was brought by the appellants Woodard and wife, to recover damages to their property caused by cinders, soot, ashes, and smoke falling from the smokestacks of respondent’s sawmill upon the dwelling house and premises of appellants; and to1 enjoin the operation of the sawmill plant. The cause was tried to the court without a jury. Damages in the sum o-f $490 were awarded to appellants, but the court refused to enjoin the continuance of the alleged nuisance. The plaintiffs, Woodard and wife; appeal from that part of the judgment refusing to grant an injunction.

We find very little dispute upon the facts which are, in substance, as follows: In the year 1879 the plaintiffs built a residence upon a parcel of land owned by them in the vicinity of West Bay avenue and Woodard avenue, within the limits of the city of Olympia. West Bay avenue is a street of said city running in a northerly and southerly direction along the west shore line of Budd’s Inlet, a navigable part of Puget Sound. Woodard avenue intersects West Bay avenue at right angles, and extends westerly up a precipitous hill. [310]*310The intersection of these avenues is about one and one-half miles from the business center of the city of Olympia. At the time the plaintiffs first went .upon the property, the same was in a wild state, covered with timber and brush. Plaintiffs cleared something more than an acre of land at the southwest intersection of Woodard avenue and West Bay avenue, about one hundred and fifty feet west of the tide waters of Budd’s Inlet. They constructed a residence thereon and have occupied the same from the year 1879 up' to- the time this action was commenced. They planted the cleared land to fruit trees, grass, and shrubbery.

In the year 1883 the plaintiff A. B. Woodard, in company with others, constructed a steam sawmill on the shores of Budd’s Inlet, diagonally across Woodard avenue from plaintiff’s dwelling. The daily eap-acity of this mill was about 20,000 feet of lumber per day of ten hours. At the time the mill was constructed it had hut one- smokestack. Soon thereafter another smokestack was added. The mill was operated by the company which built it until the year 1886, when the plaintiff’s interest was sold, and subsequently, in 1891, passed into- the hands of the defendant compiany. In 1891 the plaintiffs sold to the defendant six acres of tide and shore land lying to- the north and east and adjoining plaintiffs’ premises. In the same year they also sold to defendant a small tract of land containing running fresh water,necessary for the defendant’s, millsi These tracts of land were purchased for the purpose of increasing the size and output of the mill plant. Plaintiffs knew the purposes for which the lands were being purchased. Thereafter, in 18 9é, another smokestack was added, and the capacity of the mill was increased to thirty-five or forty thousand feet of lumber per day of ten hours. In the year 1903 the capacity o-f the mill was again increased, to one hundred thousand feet of lumber per day of ten hours.

In February of the last named year, the plaintiff A. B. Woodard and defendant and others petitioned the city eoun[311]*311cil of Olympia to vacate the north twenty feet of Woodard avenue fox the purpose of establishing the power plant of defendant’s mill thereon, and subsequently, in April of that year, the city vacated the portion of the street named. Thereupon the defendant erected a power plant on its own1 land, to the west side of West Bay avenue, occupying the portion of the street vacated. This new power plant consists of five boilers and five smokestacks, and is located about one hundred and sixty feet to the north of plaintiffs’ dwelling, the portion of Woodard avenue which was not vacated being between the plaintiffs’ land and the new power plant. When this new power plant was completed the old one was abandoned. The new plant is about fifty feet nearer to plaintiffs’ residence than, the old plant. The smokestacks are about eighty feet high and extend from twenty-three to thirty feet above the top of plaintiffs’ dwelling. The tops of the stacks are provided with the most approved appliances for arresting soot, cinders, and ashes, and for consuming smoke.

The lands upon which the defendant’s mills, docks and wharves are located are tide and shore lands, fit only for manufacturing piurposes, and they have been used as such since the construction of the mill in the year 1883. The mill is located very near the northern boundary of the city of Olympia and within a manufacturing district, the shore line and tide lands for a long distance toward the business center of the city being occupied by this and other manufacturing plants. The lands on the west side of West Bay avenue opposite the bay rise precipitously from the waters of the sound. Several residences have been, constructed on the sidehill since plaintiffs’ residence was constructed, but plaintiffs’ residence is the nearest one to' the said mills. Sawdust has been used for fuel ever since the plaintiffs’ mill was constructed. Smoke, soot, and cinders have fallen on plaintiffs’ property when the winds blow from the northeast, from the time of the construction of the mill.

After the construction of the new power house in 1903, [312]*312Soot, cinders, and ashes have fallen upon plaintiffs’ premises in greater quantities than previously when the winds were blowing from the northeast. The prevailing winds are from the southwest and only northeast winds carry soot, cinders, or ashes ini the direction of plaintiffs’ premises. When such winds blow — which is frequently during the summer months —the smoke from the stacks is carried over the plaintiffs’ dwelling, and cinders, soot, and ashes are deposited upon the walks, porches and roof of plaintiffs’ dwelling, rendering the same less inviting and less comfortable. ' Such soot, etc., also soils the carpiets within the house and fruit and flowers growing in the yard. Plaintiffs have frequently complained to defendant, both before and after the erection of the new power house, about the effect of the cinders, soot, and ashes upon their premises. The value of plaintiffs’ property at the timé the action was begun was $2,500. The value of defendant’s property was $150,000. It employed eighty men, and the annual output of the mills was $350,000. If the defendant’s mill cannot he 'Operated as it is now constructed, it must remain idle or be removed to some other place.

Several assignments of error are made by appellants upon the findings of fact made by the trial court. We have not included seme of them in the statement above, because we deem them immaterial to a decision of the main, question. Others excepted to are stated because they are proper to he considered, especially the fact that the mill is located in a manufacturing district. The lower court found that plaintiffs have been damaged in the sum of $490, and adjudged that they recover that amount from the defendant. They do not appeal from that award, and respondent does not now contest the correctness of the judgment entered. The main question and the one upon which the; appeal must he decided is, did the court commit error in refusing to restrain the operation of the power plant as now constructed ?

There is no- dispute that the mill plant of respondent is located wholly upon its own lands, and there is no dispute [313]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
86 P. 579, 43 Wash. 308, 1906 Wash. LEXIS 697, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/woodard-v-west-side-mill-co-wash-1906.