Polley's Lumber Co. v. United States

The appeal is from a judgment in favor of the government, entered on a directed verdict, in a suit on behalf of the Flathead ■tribe of Indians and certain individuals of the tribe.

In 1928, appellant -Lumber Company and the Superintendent of the Flathead agency -entered into a contract for the sale of timber located on lands in the Flathead Reservation. By the terms of the contract the Lumber Company agreed to cut and pay for at least 12,000,000 feet of timber prior to March 1, 1933, and not less than that amount each year thereafter, all of the timber sold to be removed by 1943. The unit prices for the period ended March 31, 1934, were fixed at $4.06 per thousand feet for pine and $3 for fir and larch. These prices were to be upped 12% for the ensuing three year period, and further increases might be made for subsequent periods should the Commissioner of Indian Affairs find such increases fairly representative of then existing stumpage values.

The general Timber Sale Regulations were made part of the contract. Regulations 52 and 56, relating to breach by the purchaser and to the ascertainment of damages, are as follows:

Because of adverse economic conditions the time for…