Hoag v. Pierce

By the Court,

Currey, J. In June, 1853, Meredith Meador, for the purpose of obtaining the right to hold and possess a certain tract of the public lands situated on the Sacramento River opposite the present town of Red Bluffs, under and in pursuance of the Act entitled “An Act prescribing the mode of maintaining and defending possessory actions on public lands in this State,” (Laws 1852, p. 158,) made an affidavit, describing the land, the possession and enjoyment of which he desired to secure, and stating therein that the description given was not intended to embrace more than one hundred and sixty acres, and that he had not taken up any other claim under said Act, and also to the best of his knowledge and belief there was no existing title or claim to the same. This affidavit was filed in the office of the proper county. The land was surveyed at the time' by his procurement by the County Surveyor, and was found to contain one hundred and fifty-four acres. Within ninety days thereafter, he put improvements on the land, partaking of the realty to the value of three hundred dollars, a part of which consisted of a dwelling house, which became occupied by himself and family within the ninety days. He continued to [189]reside on the premises until in the latter part of October, 1855, during which time he put improvements on the land, amounting in value to about two thousand dollars, and used ° the property for the purposes of husbandry. In October, 1855, he removed to another place, after which the premises were occupied by his tenants, until he sold and conveyed the same to Pierce, Church and Comstock, by deed bearing date the 17th day of January, 1S61, which was duly acknowledged and recorded in the same month. From the time of the execution of this conveyance to the time of the commencement of this action, Pierce, Church and Comstock were in the possession of the Meador tract, by the defendant, Keyes.

On the 29th of December, 1861, which was Sunday, the plaintiff and some four or five men in his employment went upon this tract of land at a point opposite Red Bluffs, taking with them a quantity of lumber, with which they constructed a fence on three sides of a piece of land of about an acre in extent. The fourth side of it was bounded by the Sacramento River. The plaintiff also commenced the erection of a house on the land, which he inclosed on one side, and partly on the other side. At the two ends it was left open, and it was also without a roof. This work was done between the hours of ten in the morning and two in the afternoon. One of the plaintiff’s workmen,- who was a witness on his behalf, testified that while the work was being performed the weather was wet and dismal, and another of them said it was a rainy day. Hear sundown of the same day the defendants came upon the ground, and found one Jordan at the house, whose furniture and provisions, according to his own account, consisted of a bed and two bottles of whiskey. The whiskey, he said, was provided by the plaintiff, in whose employment he was at the time. Pierce asked Jordan what he was doing there, and one of the defendants told him he had come to knock the house down, and then commenced the work of demolition. Upon this Jordan told them not to tear down the house until he could get his things out. The defendants then proceeded to remove the fence, and finished their work by throwing a por