Price v. Beaver

Belcher, C. C. — The defendant, on the twenty-fifth day of May, 1885, filed in the office of the surveyor-general of the state her application to purchase 640 acres of swamp and overflowed land, situate in Tulare County. The land sought to be purchased had been segregated as swamp and overflowed land, by authority of the United States, for more than six months, and was subject to sale by the state to any qualified applicant. The defendant was qualified to purchase the land, and her affidavit properly stated all the facts required in such case to be stated therein.

[626]The plaintiff, on the seventeenth day of June, 1885, made application to purchase the same land. He was also a qualified purchaser, and his application was sufficient and proper in form.

On demand of the plaintiff, the question as to which of the parties had the better right to purchase the land was referred by the surveyor-general to the Superior Court of Tulare County for determination. Proper pleadings were filed by the parties, and after a full hearing of the case, the court, among other things, found as follows:—

“3. That said defendant is a native-born citizen of the United States, and was, at the time of filing said application to purchase said land, of the age of thirty-one years, an unmarried female, and a resident of the state of California; that at said time she knew the land applied for, and the exterior bounds thereof, and knew of her own knowledge that there were no settlers thereon; that she desired to purchase said land under the law providing for the sale of swamp and overflowed and tide lands, and that she did not own swamp and overflowed lands which, together with that sought to be purchased and applied for in said application, would exceed 640 acres; that she did not know of any valid claim to the said land other than her own; and that there was no other valid claim to said land at the time said defendant filed her application, or at any time since.

“ 4. That the said land is not suitable for cultivation.”

And as a conclusion of law the court further found:—

■“ That the application of the defendant, Hattie M. Beaver, to purchase the east half of section 19 and the west half of section 20, in township 22 south, range 23 east, Mount Diablo base and meridian (the land in question), is good and valid, and said defendant has a right to purchase the same, and that she is entitled to have her said application approved by the surveyor-general of said state of California,” etc.