Stoakes v. Monroe

By the Court, Crockett, J.: The plaintiffs are the'owners in possession of a mining claim known as the “Horth Star,” and the defendants are the owners in possession of a contiguous claim, known as the claim of “Lott & Co.” or “Lott, G-anett & Co.” The action is for damages for an alleged encroachment upon and injury to the plaintiffs’ mining ground by the defendants, and for a perpetual injunction to prevent future encroachments. The answer denies that the plaintiffs are the owners or in possession of the locus in quo, and avers title in the defendants. The plaintiffs’ location was prior to the defendants’, and its regularity is not questioned; but its boundaries, [386]except on the north, are disputed, and the contest relates only to boundaries. On the trial the verdict and judgment were for the plaintiffs, and the defendants moved for a new trial, chiefly on the ground of newly discovered evidence. The motion was denied, and the defendants have appealed. The reversal of the judgment is urged on the sole ground that the Court erred in denying the motion for new trial.

The northerly line of the plaintiffs’ claim is not disputed, nor that it is bounded on its easterly and westerly sides by lines nearly or entirely parallel to each other. But the contest is as to the precise location of these lines, the plaintiffs maintaining that, taking the northern line as a base, the lateral lines, according to their true location, include a large portion of the mining ground claimed by the defendants; whilst the defendants insist that the proper location of these latter lines is further toward the east; and if so located, they would include only a narrow strip off the easterly side oí the defendants’ ground.

On the trial it appeared that next easterly of the plaintiffs’ claim is located the claim of Webb & Co., or, as it is sometimes called, of Smalley & Co., and next easterly-of this is the Minnesota or Halpin claim. The Minnesota was first located, then Webb & Co., then the North Star, (the plaintiffs’ claim,) and lastly the defendants’ claim. On the trial, testimony was introduced by the plaintiffs, tending to show the location of the westerly line of the Minnesota claim, and rebutting testimony was put in by the defendants, tending to prove that this line was further towards the east than claimed by the plaintiffs. The testimony as to the location of this line was conflicting—Halpin, a witness for the plaintiff, and one of the original locators of the Minnesota claim, testifying positively to the location as claimed by the plaintiffs; whilst Webb, a witness for the defendants, and one of the locators of the claim of Webb & Co., testified as positively to the location as claimed by the defendants. We do not perceive how the location of this line was in any respect pertinent to the issue, or could cut any figure in the case,