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Coos Bay Lumber Company owned certain timberlands in 1934, consisting of approximately 58,900 acres in Coos and Douglas Counties, both within and without the northern exterior boundaries of the Siskiyou National Forest as it existed in 1934. Those timberlands are known as the 'Eden Ridge Tract.' In 1933, the president of Coos proposed to the Forest Service that P extend the boundaries of the Siskiyou National Forest to include all of the Eden Ridge Tract and that Coos would thereafter convey to P its forest lands in the Eden Ridge Tract after the forest growth thereon had been harvested. In 1934, a document was executed under seal incorporating the above proposal. The boundaries of the Siskiyou National Forest were extended to include all the lands described in Schedule 'B' of the 1934 Document. Coos assumed a continuing duty to convey lands to P as they were cut over. As consideration, P extended the boundaries of the Siskiyou National Forest, thus giving Coos additional fire protection. From 1936 through 1941, Coos conveyed a total of 9,356.82 acres of land within the exterior boundaries of the Siskiyou National Forest. Coos conveyed the lands remaining in its ownership in the Eden Ridge Tract to D, together with other lands, by Deed dated July 10, 1956. D acquired title to the lands by Deed dated December 17, 1962. From 1934 through April 4, 1958, Coos or its successors did not complete cutting and slash disposal on any quarter section or a portion thereof in the Eden Ridge Tract except for lands previously conveyed to P. On April 4, 1958, P retracted the northern boundary of the Forest, excluding lands described in the 1934 Document (except for lands previously conveyed) then owned by D, and re-establishing the northern boundary as it was before the 1935 extension. Over the years, P made no claim upon Coos or its successors to convey any land under the 1934 Document. No assertion of ownership or other rights in the land was made until 1961. P, without interference, allowed D to manage this timberland at a very considerable expense, adding a great deal of value to it. In 1967, P initiated a declaratory relief action seeking specific performance of a contract made in 1934 with D's predecessor in interest, and asserted a claim for lands conveyed. The district court found that the 1934 Document was a valid contract, but whose purposes and objectives were frustrated by the retraction of the boundaries of the Siskiyou National Forest in 1958, thereby terminating the duty of D to convey any cutover lands pursuant to the 1934 Document. The 1958 retraction constituted a failure of consideration, rendering the 1934 Document void and unenforceable. P appealed, claiming immunity from the affirmative defenses of equitable estoppel, unclean hands, frustration of contract, and failure of consideration.

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