Sussman v. San Luis Obispo County

VAN DYKE, J.

—Plaintiff brings this action against the defendants to quiet his title to a certain wagon-road and bridge resting thereon. Defendants, county of San Luis Obispo and hoard of supervisors of said county, in their answer deny the

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material allegations in the complaint, and set up as a defense the dedication by the plaintiff and his predecessors in interest of said road and bridge to the public as a public road, thoroughfare, and highway, and also plead the statute of limitations. The supervisors, as individuals, disclaim any interest in said property. Upon the issues thus raised, the court found in favor of the defendant upon the question of dedication and the plea of the statute of limitations, and ordered judgment accordingly. This appeal is from the judgment and order denying plaintiff’s motion for a new trial.

The Eureka Improvement Company, predecessor of plaintiff, then the owner of the Eureka rancho, in December, 1888, had said rancho surveyed and a map thereof made and filed. A portion of said rancho, as surveyed, was laid out into lots and blocks and called the town of Vasa. This map, so filed by said company, is called the original map, and was introduced in evidence by plaintiff. Said map, or the portion thereof showing the town of Vasa, was lithographed on a large scale, with the streets of said town, including the road and bridge in controversy, delineated thereon as an open thoroughfare connecting the Templeton and Vasa road on the easterly side of the Salinas river with the Templeton and Santa Margarita road on the westerly side of said river, and leading to and past the railroad depot.

This map was recorded in the office of the county recorder of San Luis Obispo county at the request of Briggs, Ferguson & Co., the agents of said Eureka Improvement Company, on the fourth day of November, 1889. The Eureka Improvement Company, and Briggs, Ferguson' & Co., its agents, in September, 1888, brought a great number of people to the town of Vasa by excursions for the purpose of selling lands and town lots. Lands were then sold to buyers by the Eureka Improvement Company, and representátions were made publicly to said buyers and to prospective purchasers that the proposed bridge and road across the Salinas river, connecting the Eureka Improvement Company’s lands with the road across the river, would be of a public character and for the benefit of the public. Among the parties ,that made such representations were several directors and officers of said company, and in November,