Zachery

Mr. and Mrs. Zachery, the plaintiffs, own section 28 of a township located in. a rugged mountainous area of Kern County. Immediately to the west is section 29, owned by defendant McWilliams. In this suit the parties litigate the location of the common boundary of these sections, that is, the west boundary of section 28 and east boundary of section 29. The trial court found that the parties’ predecessors had established an agreed boundary about 1,300 feet west of the section line established by an 1876 government survey. The court granted a decree quieting plaintiffs’ title to approximately 160 acres west of the section line. The court also awarded plaintiffs trespass damages of $1,468.20. Defendants appeal.

The map of the 1876 survey shows that the sections are square and each contains 640 acres. Plaintiffs bought section 28 in 1951. At that time they believed their westerly boundary corresponded to a fence which ran southward from the north boundary of the section, extending about two-thirds of the way toward the south boundary. Plaintiffs later extended the fence to what they believed was their southwest corner.

McWilliams bought section 29 in 1969 or 1970. He had a…