Thompson v. Harris

• Decision Date: 17 April 1894
• Citation: 40 Neb. 230,58 N.W. 712
• Parties: THOMPSON v. HARRIS, ROAD OVERSEER.
• Court: Nebraska Supreme Court

40 Neb. 230

58 N.W. 712

THOMPSON

v.HARRIS, ROAD OVERSEER.

Supreme Court of Nebraska.

April 17, 1894.

Syllabus by the Court.

A mound or other monument established by United States surveyors as section or quarter section corners controls both courses and distances.

Appeal from district court, Hall county; Harrison, Judge.

Action by Lora O. Thompson against R. B. Harris, road overseer, to restrain him from committing trespass on her lands. Bill dismissed, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.W. H. Thompson, for appellant.

Chas. G. Ryan and Abbott & Caldwell, for appellee.

RAGAN, C.

Lora A. Thompson is the owner of the S. W. 1/4 of section 4, township 11 N., and range 10 W., in Hall county, Neb., and brought this suit in the district court of said county against R. B. Harris, who is a road overseer of the road district in which the land of Thompson is situated. She alleged in her petition that Harris was threatening to appropriate, use, and work, as a highway, a portion of her land, and prayed for an adjunction restraining him. The court below rendered a decree dismissing Thompson's bill, and she brings the case here on appeal. The only controversy in the case is the precise location of the government corner at the corner common to sections 4, 5, 8, and 9 of said township. The contention of the appellant is that starting from the government corner at the N. W. corner of said section, and extending a line due south to the section line on the south side of said sections 4 and 5, the point of intersection of said lines should be, and is, the S. W. corner of appellant's land. The contention of the appellee is that the original government corner common to said sections 4, 5, 8, and 9 is 33 feet east of where a line extended due south from the N. W. corner of said section 4 would intersect the section line on the south side of said sections 4 and 5.

The contention of the appellant that, starting from the government corner at the N. W. corner of section 4, the section line should run due south to the section line on the south sides of sections 4 and 5, cannot be maintained, unless, by so doing, said line would pass through the government corner to sections 4, 5, 8, and 9. The rule is that a mound or other monument established by United States surveyors as a section or quarter section corner controls both courses and distances. Johnson v. Preston, 9 Neb. 474, 4 N. W. 83;Bruckner's Lessee v. Lawrence, 1 Doug. (Mich.) 19;Climer v. Wallace, 28 Mo. 556. The court below found that the government surveyors established the corner common to said sections 4, 5, 8, and 9 at a point 33 feet east of the point through which a line extended due south from the N. W. corner of section 4 to the south line of said section 5 would pass. The evidence sustains this finding, and the decree appealed from must be...