Sills

Charles' Siller appeals from a judgment in favor of Stanley A. Sills and Leslie W. Sills in the amount of $17,570.99; and Preston Hatch, guardian of the estate of Cora Leach, an incompetent person, appeals from a declaratory judgment in her favor in the amount of $6,237.66.

This case arose out of a timber transaction involving a 40-acre tract of land in Tuba County which was assessed to “Unknown Owners.” Early in 1956 defendants, Kay Shadd and Ed Studley, had the assessor mail tax notices concerning this property to them, and the records in the assessor’s office were changed to read, “Unknown Owners, c/o Shadd and Studley.” These two men along with Charles Siller were engaged in a joint enterprise, the object of which was to discover and obtain title to timber lands which had no ownership.

In April 1956, before any title had been obtained, Studley showed the property to Wilbur Cummings, a logger. Cummings after viewing the property estimated that there were approximately one and one-half million board feet of merchantable timber in the stand. Cummings asked Studley how he had discovered such a stand and Studley replied that it was a secret. He later told Cummings that he and his…