County of Thurston v. Walker

Citations

• 27 Wash. 500
• 67 P. 1099
• 1902 Wash. LEXIS 418

Syllabus

<p>HIGHWAYS-DEDICATION-PLEADING.</p> <p>In an action to compel defendant to remove obstructions from a public road and to restrain him from thereafter obstructing the highway, the complaint alleged “that during all of the times . . . there has existed a lawful highway or public road thirty feet in width extending across a portion of said forty acres above described in this paragraph of the complaint, which highway was and is for the use, travel, and accommodation of the said plaintiff and all of inhabitants and of the public in general;” and alleged, further, that no other highway or public road exists across the said premises except the one hereinbefore referred to. Held, that the complaint was broad enough to allow facts to be proven showing the establishment of a road by prescription, dedication, or otherwise.</p> <p>SAME •— EVIDENCE.</p> <p>' Dedication of a highway is sufficiently established where the evidence shows that a land owner voluntarily laid out a road through his lands, which was maintained for about three years; that he then fenced it, but afterwards agreed with the county commissioners that in consideration of the abandonment by them of another route surveyed through his land, he would grant the right of way for the road which had been used for three years, placing gates where the fences across it were, and within eight months fence his land so that thereafter the road could be used without obstruction by the public.</p>