Opinion ID: 2052512
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: elmer and june knutson

Text: When the Government surveyed the land in 1879, a marsh covered a portion of the east line of Section 3, and so the surveyor had to place what is called a witness corner. [1] When the land was surveyed in 1985, the surveyor found the witness corner located 165 feet south of the true corner. The surveyor also testified that the crop line was located in the same place as the witness corner. Elmer Knutson testified that he first became familiar with the Southeast Quarter of Section 3 in the 1930s when his father, Elias Knutson, owned it. At that time, R.S. Saunders owned the Northeast Quarter. Elmer testified that Saunders established the boundary between the Northeast Quarter and the Southeast Quarter of Section 3 in the 1930s by placing a fence along a portion of the line and then later plowing a field the length of the quarter-section. Apparently Saunders used the witness-corner stake as the boundary instead of the true quarter-corner. Elmer testified that the boundary has been within a few feet of the boundary established by Saunders ever since, but that the boundary has always been in dispute. It is evident from the testimony that because the slough prevented the first surveyor from marking the true quarter-corner, a witness corner was placed and used by Saunders as the true quarter-corner when he plowed his field. Elmer testified that although the boundary was always contested, he treated the crop line as the boundary separating the properties and he did not, within 20 years, seek to have the boundary placed in accordance with the quarter-section line. Thus the trial court did not err in finding that the Knutsons acquiesced in the crop line as the boundary between the parties' land. Accordingly, the judgment quieting title in the Jensens to that portion of Section 3 in dispute is affirmed.