Owen B. Wood Et Al. v. Mrs. Ollie Stone Et Al‪.‬

On Motion for Rehearing Appellees have pointed out that in our original opinion we made no mention of the case of State v. Gulf Oil Corporation, Tex.Civ.App., 264 S.W.2d 743, writ ref., n.r.e., in which the court points out that parol evidence is always admissible to locate the monuments called for in the field notes and that where, after a long lapse of time, corner markers, natural or artificial, have disappeared, necessity requires that we resort to any evidence tending to establish the place of the original footsteps of the surveyor which meets the requirement that it is the best evidence of which the case is susceptible. This case was carefully considered by this Court, and our decision is not considered to be in conflict with it. There was no evidence offered, eye witness, opinion or recognition, which would be direct evidence of the location of the witness tree at the most westerly northwest corner of the E. Ruhl. No marker for the southwest corner was called for by the field notes. The maps introduced into evidence showing a common line between the E. Ruhl and the J. Dunman constitute no evidence of the location of the witness tree at the northwest corner of the E. Ruhl. In our original opinion we discussed the call in the field notes of the H.E. & W.T. #6 for the unmarked southwest corner of the E. Ruhl in the east line of the J. Dunman. This recitation is purely a conclusion of the surveyor since a presumption that he knew where the corner was located must be based on a presumption that evidence of the corner existed on the ground which was not recited in the field notes. The only other evidence which would tend to locate the Ruhl west line on the ground was the excluded testimony of Herbert Williams of long recognition of a common boundary line by people living in the area. We think this testimony inadmissible to create a conflict on authority of the cases cited in our original opinion. To create a conflict in the field notes there must be evidence that calls for course and distance are not consistent with monuments called for, or result in conflicts with senior surveys called for, in the field notes. The best evidence of the footsteps of the surveyor produced in this case is the corners established by surveyors who followed the courses and distances called for by the original surveyor in his field notes. The motion for rehearing is overruled.