Hall

In 1949Empire Redwood Company (referred to hereafter as Empire) held a contract to purchase 26,000 acres of land and the timber thereon. On August 20th of that year Empire and S. J. Hall simultaneously executed several documents pertaining to the land and timber, all as part of one transaction. Empire assigned all of its rights in the purchase contract to Hall. He paid Empire $150,000 and agreed to pay the balance payable under the land purchase contract. Empire was given for a period of 25 years the exclusive right to log and manufacture all old growth timber located on the land. It was to pay Hall 10 per cent of the amount realized by it for redwood and pine lumber and 8 per cent of the amount realized for fir lumber. The tenth paragraph of the agreement also provided:

Empire conducted logging operations until 1953, at which time it leased its mill to Alvin M. Boldt and gave him the right to log the timber on the property. The agreement provided that Boldt would get “all the benefits and privileges” of the cutting contract between Empire and Hall.

In 1954 Hall, acting for Gualala Redwoods, a partnership which had succeeded to Hall’s interest, hereinafter called Gualala, began…