Stearns Lumber Co. v. Ross
Stearns Lumber Co. v. Ross
Opinion of the Court
Opinion op the Court by
— Reversing.
Thomas M. King obtained a patent from the Commonwealth to the following boundary of land:
“Beginning at four spruce pine on the west cliff of Paunch creek, corner of said King’s upper survey -known a_s the Allen Stephens’ survey, running thence with a line of said Stephens’ survey, N. 84 W. 100 poles to a stake in said line and corner of said King’s*688 Patton Thompson survey; thence with the Thompson survey N. 41 W. 277 poles to a stake corner of said survey; thence leaving the survey, N. 35 E. 20 poles to a stake on top of the main cliff West of Paunch creek; thence along the cliff binding on the meanders thereof, when reduced to a straight line, S. 59 E. 144 poles; thence S. 46 E. 205 poles still binding on the cliff to the beginning. ’ ’
King conveyed this land to appellee, Eoss. A greater portion of it is bounded by a cliff of Paunch creek. Appellant purchased from one Bryant the timber on a tract of land on the opposite side of the cliff] and creek. It cut and removed the timber and appeileej. sued for the value and recovered a judgment for $300.00. Appellant claims it was entitled to a peremptory in-' struction at the conclusion of appellee’s testimony, but if not then at the conclusion of all the testimony. This] is the only question necessary for this court to determine.
If appellee’s boundary extended across the creek, the judgment should be affirmed, but if it only extended to the edge of the cliff on his side of the creek, then appellant was entitled to a peremptory instruction. For appellee to get the boundary of land upon which the timber was situated, the call “N. 35 E. 20 poles to a stake on top of the miain cliff west of Paunch creek,” must be extended 157 poles, which would cross the creek at the end of 20 poles. It will be noticed that the beginning point is west of the creek and by reason off the winding of the very crooked creek the extension of the 20 pole line 157 poles to the top of the cliff, will go to a point which is on the west side of the creek at that place, but on the opposite sidei of the creek from the beginning point. The calls given in the patent do not mention the fact that the creek is ever crossed to get back to the beginning, nor does it speak of crossing the creek on the 20 pole line. Paunch creek is a stream off considerable length, and according to the most of the proof, it passes the land in dispute in a deep gorge at the foot of almost unbroken cliffs which are from one to three hundred feet above the stream1. The undisputed proof shows that for several miles there are only a few places where it is possible to find a passage across the creek. There is a break in Ubis cliff near the 20 pole line caused by another stream flowing into Paunch creek,
In the case of Bell County Land & Coal Co. v. Hendrickson, 24 Ky. L. R., 371, the court said:
“The original plot of the survey may always be used in evidence to show the position of the land, and is evi ■ denee of the most potent kind in determining the original location of the lines and corners.”
As stated, the plat in the case at bar does not showi that the land patented by King extended across the creek, and Burrell King’s testimony shows that his father never claimed on but one side of the creek.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.