Centoni

The defendants in this action were the owners of a plant in the city of Bakersfield at which clay was received, stored and distributed. This plant was located on a spur from the tracks of the Santa Fe Railway Company in what was designated as a part of the industrial district of the city. The plaintiffs were property owners living upon their properties in the neighborhood of the defendants’ plant. Some of their residences were on the inside of the so-called industrial district and some were outside in what was called a residential district. The plant was on property leased from the railroad company.

The clay, commonly called rotary mud by oil drillers, was obtained from a dry lake in the desert about seventy miles easterly from Bakersfield. It was transported to the plant in railway dump-cars which were unloaded by dumping it into concrete pits constructed under the cars. It was then taken by conveyors into bins where it was stored. The bins were emptied by chutes into trucks and the clay was then hauled to various oil-wells to be used in drilling operations. When the bins were full the surplus clay was piled on the adjoining ground.

The clay was a brownish gray color and when…