126 P. 1 | Or. | 1912
delivered the opinion of the court.
It is shown by the evidence that Peter Pacquet, former owner of the land, claimed the land to the edge of the water; claimed that the corner of the Weston tract was right at the river. Each of the different owners of the adjacent land claimed and believed that they owned to the water’s edge. In 1906 defendant refused to pay rent for the use of the river front. Pacquet then rented the
At the time of the company’s taking the deed from the Hedges’ heirs, it had full knowledge of plaintiff’s claim thát the tract constituted a part of what was known as the “Pacquet Place.” The defendant should not now be permitted to contradict such possession and claim of ownership on the part of the plaintiff. Pacquet lived in a house across the railroad from the river bank for a long time. Henry Hedges, son of A. F. Hedges, deceased, testified that his father, after selling the tract to Pacquet, never claimed any right to the portion next to the river.
It was said by Mr. Chief Justice Bean, in McNear v. Guistin, 50 Or. 377, 380 (92 Pac. 1075, 1076), that: “There is no particular- manner by which such possession may be indicated or made manifest; and no particular act or series of acts are required to be done on the land. There must, however, be actual use and occupancy, continuous for the necessary length of time, of such an unequivocal character as will indicate to the owner an assertion of an exclusive appropriation and ownership.”
We also quote from the case of Ewing v. Burnet, 11 Pet. 41, at page 52 (9 L. Ed. 624), as follows: “So much depends on the nature and situation of the property, the uses to which it can be applied, or to which the owner or claimant may choose to apply it, that it is difficult to lay down any precise rule, adapted to all cases.” See, also, Bell v. Denson, 56 Ala. 444, 449.
The plaintiff and his predecessors in interest exercised acts of ownership over this strip of land by using it for the purposes for which it was peculiarly adapted. Their possession of the tract was as visible and notorious as it could well have been, considering the condition and the use made of the land.
The use of the water front by defendant, for more . than 10 years, for the purpose of booming its rafts of logs, by means of a cable extending to a tree on the land, and from that to a “dead man” near the land, was as plain an assertion of dominion over the tract itself as if a wharf with warehouses had been constructed at this place.
Defendant did not experience any difficulty in finding out who claimed the land when it first tethered its rafts along the shore. Pacquet, the owner of adjacent land, soon hove in sight and demanded compensation therefor. We think the evidence clearly supports the findings of the trial court. With marked ability it is contended by counsel for defendant that the use of the land and adjacent river during the time, as shown by the evidence, did not rise to the dignity of adverse possession, so as to ripen into a title. With this conclusion we are unable to agree.
The decree of the lower court will be affirmed.
Affirmed.