Raglan v. Johnston Rock Co.

TUTTLE, J. The appellant herein, A. W. Raglan, is the owner of a ranch in Mendocino County situated on Highway No. 28, which runs between towns of Cloverdale in Sonoma County and Boonville in Mendocino County. A portion of the boundary line of his land on the southwest is formed by Ranchería Creek, a stream whose course runs in a general southerly direction. The appellant acquired the ranch in the year 1924. The respondent, Isaphene Beasley, is the owner of a ranch situated to the southwest of the Raglan property and whose northeast boundary is also formed by Ranchería Creek.

In 1938 appellant herein entered into an agreement with the Johnston Rock Company, which company held a contract for the construction of certain highways within the State of California. The agreement was to permit the Johnston Rock Company to remove gravel from the bed of Ranchería Creek for which they agreed to pay to appellant an agreed price for each cubic yard of gravel so removed. Thereafter the Johnston Rock Company entered upon Ranchería Creek and removed the gravel, but due to the fact that the respondent herein presented her claim to the company for the value of the gravel [707]so removed, the Johnston Rock Company refused to pay either appellant or respondent. Thereafter the appellant herein filed this action against the Johnston Rock Company for the value of the gravel removed as provided by their agreement. The Johnston Rock Company thereafter deposited the value of the gravel removed as agreed upon by both appellant and respondent with the Superior Court of Mendocino County, and the respondent herein filed her answer and cross-complaint claiming the moneys so deposited. Findings were made in favor of respondent, to the effect that he was the owner of the land from which said gravel was removed, and judgment was entered that he recover that portion of the amount paid into court by said Johnston Rock Company which represented the value of the gravel taken from the lands found to be owned by respondent. A motion for new trial, based upon newly discovered evidence, was denied, and the appeal then taken from the judgment.

The sole question presented is the sufficiency of the evidence to support the findings. The issue was the boundary line between the properties of the parties. On January 31, 1894, W. T. Rock, Jennie Rock, and Lawrence Rawles, predecessors in interest of the appellant, A. W. Raglan, executed a deed to S. W. Knowles, predecessor in interest of the respondent, Isaphene Beasley, conveying all their interest in “all lands owned by the parties of the first part, or either of them, lying to the south and west of Rancheria Creek, in Section 32, Township 13 North, Range 13 West, M. D. M. ” On the same date, S. W. Knowles, the predecessor in interest of the respondent Isaphene Baesley, made his deed to W. T. Rock conveying to him, “all land owned by the party of the first part lying to the north and east of Rancheria Creek in Section 32, Township 13 North, Range 13 West, M. D. M.” The parties to the above mentioned deeds were apparently attempting to make Ranchería Creek the boundary between their respective ranches. Ranchería Greek is a non-navigable stream. Section 2077 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides as follows: