Opinion of the Court. decree of the said Circuit Court of the United States, made December 24, 1856; and that said decree did not authorize the issuing of a patent by the United States for the land described in the complaint, or for any land on the west side of the Arroyo Seco, but made the Arroyo Seco the boundary between the pueblo and the Huichica rancho. The cause was tried by the court without a jury, and it made a finding of facts, comprising the facts set forth in the answer, with additional matters, the only material ones being as follows: A grant to one Leese of the place called Huichica was made by the Mexican governor of California, in 1841, and embraced all the land between the Arroyo Seco, the Arroyo de los Carneros, and the swamp land, containing two square leagues, the western boundary being the Arroyo Seco. Subsequently, the governor adjudged this grant to be void, because the land of which judicial possession was attempted to be given under it was much more than the quantity granted. Under a subsequent petition by Leese, and on July 6th, 1844, the then governor of California made to Leese a second grant of three and one-half leagues of the land called Huichica, bounded on the north by the crossing of the upper road to Napa, on the east by the Arroyo de los Carneros, on the south by the swampy lands on the bay, on the west by Estero de Sonoma as far as the Trancas, taking the direction of the Arroyo Seco as far as the Little Hills of Huichica. This grant was made subject to approval by the departmental assembly, but was never placed before it for approval, although the first grant was approved by it after the second grant had been made. A claim. of Leese to the whole Huichica tract of five and one-half leagues was confirmed by the board of land commissioners April 18th, 1853, and by the District Court of the United States April 22d, 1856. An appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States was dismissed in December, 1856, no decree respecting the claim having ever been made by the Circuit Court of the United States. The decree of confirmation contained this clause: "The land of which confirmation is hereby made is known by the name of Huichica,' containing five and one-half square leagues, and no more, and is bounded and described. 6 Opinion of the Court. as follows, to wit: Bounded on the north by the upper road which goes to Napa, on the east by the Arroyo de los Carneros, on the south by the marshy land adjoining the bay of San Francisco, and on the west by the Estero of Sonoma, as far as the Trancas, taking the direction (el rumbo - direction or course) of the Arroyo Seco." A survey of the Huichica grant was made in December, 1858, and approved by the surveyor general in June, 1859; and, in accordance therewith, a patent for the Huichica rancho, containing 18,704 acres, was issued by the United States to Leese August 3d, 1859, reciting the second grant, the confirmation and the survey. The westerly boundary, as shown on the plat in that patent, is "the Sonoma Creek, from a post marked L at the lower landing as far as a post marked L at the Trancas; thence a straight line running north 37 degrees east 156 chains to a post marked L on the Arroyo Seco, at the Huichica Hills. This last line is known as the Trancas line."" By quitclaim deeds under Leese, Schell claimed title to 470 acres of the Huichica rancho. The title of Akers was derived as follows: In 1835, General Vallejo, director of colonization, under previous instructions from the Mexican governor of California, established the pueblo of Sonoma, and made a survey thereof, with the following boundaries: "On the east the Arroyo Seco, from the vineyard of Salvador Vallejo to the salt marsh on the bay; thence along the salt marsh westerly to Sonoma Creek; thence up said creek to the Agua Caliente Creek; thence easterly by the hills north of the city to place of beginning." He laid out the tract into lots and blocks, and established families on it, occupying the tract along the Arroyo Seco, in 1835, down to the point where it entered the said salt marsh. On a report of his acts, made by him to the governor, they were approved by the latter. In May, 1852, the authorities of the city of Sonoma presented to the board of land commissioners their claim, as successors of the pueblo, for all of its land, as established by Vallejo. The claim was confirmed by the board, and afterwards, on appeal, by the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of California, November 2d, 1864. These decrees fixed the Arroyo Seco, from the vineyard afore Opinion of the Court. said to the salt marsh, as the eastern boundary of the pueblo. A survey of the land was made in September, 1868, and reported to the land department of the United States for approval, in August, 1872. In March, 1876, the Commissioner of the General Land Office, on a conflict before him on the approval of the survey as to the location of the southeasterly line, being the boundary common to the land confirmed to the city of Sonoma and the land known as the Huichica grant, adjudged and determined that such boundary should be established as follows: "A direct line running from the point marked Trancas,' on Sonoma Creek, to the point where the Arroyo Seco enters the salt marsh, (Station No. 43 in the amended survey of Rancho Huichica,) and thence following the direction of the Arroyo Seco to the Little Huichica Hills, should constitute the southeasterly boundary of the pueblo of Sonoma;" and directed the surveyor general to make survey of the confirmed claim of the city of Sonoma in accordance with such decision. A resurvey was made, and the commissioner approved it and his former decision of March, 1876, fixing the Arroyo Seco as the boundary between the pueblo of Sonoma and the Huichica grant. No appeal having been taken from that decision, the same became final, and a patent for the pueblo lands was issued by the United States, March 31, 1880, to the mayor and common council of the city of Sonoma, in accordance with the decrees of confirmation and the survey, containing 6063.95 acres. The plat in the patent showed that it covered 423 acres of land embraced in the Huichica patent, being the tract bounded by the "Trancas line," so called, running from post L at the Trancas north 37 deg. east 156 chains to post L, on the Arroyo Seco, by the Arroyo Seco from said post to where it enters the marsh at station 43 aforesaid, and by a line from said station south 70 deg. 45 min. west 81.50 chains to post L at the Trancas. Akers entered into possession of the land described in the complaint, under a contract with the city of Sonoma to purchase it, in 1851, and had occupied it ever since. On the 13th of May, 1858, the city conveyed to him by deed 111 acres of land within the limits of the city as so confirmed and patented, the land sued for being part of such 111 acres. He con Opinion of the Court. tinued to reside upon, cultivate and improve the whole of the same up to October 11, 1860, and resided upon, cultivated and improved the west part of the tract so conveyed to him, including the portion sued for by the plaintiffs, ever since 1851. In September, 1860, Schell sued Akers in the Seventh District Court of the State of California, for the county of Sonoma, to recover all of the said tract of land, claiming title thereto under the Huichica patent; and Akers, by his answer in that action, claimed title to the whole thereof under his deed from the city of Sonoma. Whilst the action was pending, and on the 11th of October, 1860, the agreement in writing, before mentioned, was made. On the execution of that agreement, Schell dismissed his action, and a fence was built by the parties, from the lane mentioned in the complaint, extending northerly across the said 111-acre tract and dividing it into two fields of nearly equal size, and Akers surrendered to Schell the possession of all that portion of the 111-acre tract lying east of said fence and embracing about fifty acres, and retained the possession of all the land on the west side of said fence. The Trancas line, being the western boundary of the line patented to Leese, divides the 111-acre tract into two three-cornered pieces, the line running from the southwest to the northeast and crossing the said fence, leaving a portion within the Huichica patent on the west side of the fence in the possession of Akers, and also leaving a portion on the east side of the fence, not embraced within the patent of the Huichica, in the possession of Schell, held by him under the said contract. Finding 25 was as follows: A piece of land described as follows: Beginning at a point on the northerly line of the lane leading from the house of Theodore L. Schell, deceased, westerly to the road commonly called "Broadway," 7.63 chains easterly from the intersection of said lane and road, the point where the Trancas line crosses said lane; thence north 37 deg. east along the Trancas line to a point where the said Trancas line crosses the fence heretofore constituting the division fence between Akers and Schell; thence south 5 deg. 45 min. east along said fence to the said lane; thence westerly along the northerly side of said lane 15.61 chains to the place Opinion of the Court. of beginning -is included within the land described in the complaint. Said piece of land is situated between Arroyo Seco and the Trancas line, and is within the boundaries described in the grant of the Huichica rancho of July, 1844; the decrees of confirmation, the surveys and the patent thereof of August 3d, 1859; also the three deeds under which Schell claimed title to the 470 acres; and is not within the exceptions mentioned in the first of said deeds. Said piece of land is also within the boundaries of the pueblo of Sonoma, established by Vallejo; the decrees of confirmation, the final survey, and the patent of said pueblo, issued March 31, 1880; also the 111-acre tract; and is on the west side of the fence built by the parties. The court found as follows, as matter of law: That the city of Sonoma has established its claim to the land in controversy, within the meaning of the said contract between Schell and Akers. That, by the terms of said contract, each agreed with the other to abide by the decision of the United States on the said claim of the city of Sonoma for said lands, as then pending before the United States courts, and to abide by the boundary line between them as established on the final confirmation of pueblo lands to the city of Sonoma. That the defendant Stephen Akers is entitled to the possession of all the lands and premises described in the complaint. That all the right, title and interest of Leese in and to all the piece of land described in finding 25, derived to him under the patent of the Huichica rancho, passed to and became vested in Schell on the 18th of January, 1859. That all the title of the city of Sonoma passed to and became vested in Stephen Akers, by deed dated May 13th, 1858, in and to the said tract described in said finding 25. That defendants are entitled to judgment for the possession of all the land described in the plaintiff's complaint, with costs of suit. The judge of the Superior Court of Sonoma County, in a short opinion given in the case, said: "The court is of the opinion that the contract of the 11th of October, 1860, is conclusive of this controversy. The Huichica patent had issued when that agreement was made, and covered the land in dis VOL. CXXXII-36 |