Baird v. Barton

SCHOTTKY, J.

In June, 1954, appellant Barton and the Bairds entered into a contract entitled ‘ ‘ Contract for Sale of Timber.” By the terms of the contract Barton agreed to sell all the merchantable timber on 240 acres of land owned by him for $50,000. The purchasers made a down payment of $10,000. The balance was to be paid for at the rate of $20 per thousand for all peeler logs and $12 per thousand for all saw logs sold by the Bairds. Full payment was to be made in six months with all deferred payments to bear interest. When the entire sum was paid, Barton agreed to convey the land to the Bairds.

The Bairds entered into possession of the property and then started construction of access roads to connect the property with public roads. Four miles of road were constructed of which 3 miles were on United States Forest Service property and 1 mile on the timber property. The construction involved 211 man and tractor hours. The access roads were partially rocked. The Bairds then commenced logging operations. A strike hampered operations in July. Normal operations were conducted from August until October 6th when the Board of Supervisors of

Del

Norte County closed a suspension bridge across the Smith River to all truck traffic. The closure prevented any egress for logging trucks from the timber land. In December, 1954, a toll road was opened. To use the road required the payment of a toll of $1.50 per thousand feet carried and the posting of a large bond, which the Bairds claimed made it economically impossible to continue operations, so they stopped. During the period the Bairds were able to remove logs from the property Barton received $15,-096.13 for logs sold.,. In addition, at the time the bridge was closed the Bairds had felled and bucked over one and one-half million feet of fir and redwood at a cost of $5,782.63.

On February 10, 1955, Barton sent the Bairds a document labeled “Notice of Cancellation.” Thereafter, on March 23, 1955, Barton entered into a timber contract with one Dean calling for stumpage payments at a certain price. The agreement provided that if and when all the timber had been cut and removed and the total stumpage had amounted to $20,000 or more, Barton would convey the lands to Dean. On July 14, 1955, Barton conveyed the property to Dean and on the

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