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¶2“I told W. 0. that I thought I ought to go into the cattle business on my own hook. I always made more money when I was alone; but he .said, 'Two can handle cattle on these prairies to advantage, and we had better go in partnership;’ and we agreed to go in partnership and buy a bunch of cattle and go upon the prairie.”
¶3The defendant, to whom we shall hereafter refer as “W. 0.,” gave a somewhat different version, by testifying that J. R. “spoke of about $2,000, the amount of money that he would put into the cattle business that summer. In our conversation as to the $2,000 he was to put in, we were to go into a general partnership and deal in any manner of business that would make us a profit.”
¶4This appears to have been the only conversation they had on the subject, and, though the agreement was want*1368ing in details, especially relating to what each should invest, and the sharing of profits and losses, they did business as a copartnership for 27 years. The firm-engaged in numerous ventures, thereby strongly confirming the testimony of W. C. that the partnership was general and to deal in any manner of business that would make a profit. J, R. has testified as though the partnership ended with each venture, and has computed largely from memory the profits or losses, in each; but the record leaves no doubt that it was continuous, and that, though memoranda of some transactions may. have been kept after 1890 by the individual members of the firm, no accounts were ever kept by the firm, and the only records of its business transactions were those of the banks where its business was transacted. Each withdrew for expenses whatever he chose, without having the same charged to him. Each treated the other with the most implicit confidence, and was left free to transact any business undertaken according to his individual judgment. During the 27 years, no settlement or division of property was had, save as this may be inferred from circumstances hereafter to be considered, and all moneys, from whatever source received by firm or individual, were deposited to the firm’s credit, after an account was opened at a bank in 1883, and all moneys for whatever purpose were drawn therefrom. The business was done largely on borrowed capital, notes for which usually were signed by Smith Bros., but frequently by one of them only, and the interest and the principal when paid were taken from the firm funds.
¶5In 1881, when the partnership agreement was entered into, J. R. had $2,000, and had borrowed $500, which subsequently was paid from the funds of the firm. W. C. had $8,375, 320 acres of land, and some lots in Des Moines. All this money, with enough borrowed to make $16,000, was invested in cattle, which were pastured on the then uncultivated prairies of the state. The firm dealt in cattle until *13691888. Later on, it engaged in buying and selling hogs for about 6 months. In connection with .others, it bought', picked and shipped a carload of chickens. It bought and shipped to New York several carloads of horses. W. C. managed a lumber yard for about 2 years, at a salary of $75 per month, which he deposited in the bank to the firm’s credit. In 1886, J. R. bought 20 shares of capital stock in the First National Bank of Eagle Grove, and W. C., 30 shares. Four years and a month later, the charter of this bank was surrendered and the Citizens State Bank organized, J. R. receiving for his stock $3,200 in stock of the latter, and W. C-, $4,800 in said stock. Shortly afterwards, in 1890, each acquired enough stock to increase his holdings to $6,000, and J. R. was elected cashier thereof and served as such 13% years. In the fall of the same year, the firm purchased a grain elevator, and improved it so that its cost was $3,500. It was operated 12 years by W. C. for the firm, and then sold for $5,000. All the bank stock was paid for out of the firm account, and all dividends declared, the salary of J. R. during 13% years, and the amount paid him for services in liquidating the assets, were entered to the firm’s credit. The grain business was done in the name of Smith Bros., and money taken from its funds for its operation, and receipts entered to its credit. Even when J. R. was representative, and W. C. senator, in the General Assembly, the salaries received over expenses were deposited in the firm’s account. From this outline, it is apparent that the scope of the partnership, even though limited originally as claimed by J. R., changed as the years passed, so as to include enterprises other than dealing in cattle, and doubtless not originally contemplated. That the scope of partnership may be thus expanded by mutual assent of the members is beyond question. Any business'that they might have agreed that the copartnership engage in originally could be taken on thereafter, and doing so may be *1370evidenced as originally by written or oral agreement, or implied from the conduct of the parties and what was done by the firm. England v. Curling, 8 Beav. 129; 30 Cyc. 363; Buffum v. Buffum, 49 Me. 108 (77 Am. Dec. 249); Sullivan v. Sullivan, 122 Wis. 326 (99 N. W. 1022); Sanger v. French, 157 N. Y. 213 (51 N. E. 979).
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¶7II. At the beginning of this suit, no personal property remained in possession of the partnership. Its outstanding obligations amounted to about $50,000, not to mention about $13,000 paid by W. G. No real estate stood in the name of the firm, but a large acreage had been purchased in the name of each from the firm funds, as seen, acquired by the use of the credit of the firm. The main inquiry is: Are any of these lands property of the copartnership, and if so, what?
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¶9ference that title in the individual partner is held in trust for the firm, the evidence must-be clear, satisfactory and unequivocal. Noel v. Noel, 1 Iowa 123; Sunderland v. Sunderland, 19 Iowa 325; Childs v. Griswold, 19 Iowa 362; MacGregor v. Gardner, 14 Iowa 326; Burns v. Byrne, 45 Iowa 285.
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¶11Proof that the realty in question was purchased with partnership funds and1 title taken in the name of an individual partner, without more, is-, said, in City of Providence v. Bullock, 11 R. I. 353, and Philips v. Crammond, 2 Wash. C. C. 441 (Fed. Cas. No. 11092), to be prima-facie evidence of an intention to treat the property purchased as copartnership property, and, in McKinnon v. McKinnon, 56 Fed. 409, to be a single persuasive circumstance indicating such intention.
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¶14Later, in Townsend v. Devaynes, 1 Mont, on Part., Note 2, App. 96, Lord Eldon expressed the view, overruling prior decisions, that real estate belonging to a firm, unless the partnership contained articles with different directions, is to be considered personal property, and pass to the personal representative of a deceased partner interested therein, and such has been the law of England since. Buchan v. Sumner, 47 Am. Dec. 305.
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¶19In 1902, W. C. acquired in iiis name two half sections of land in Griggs County, N. 1)., at a cost to the firm of $11,000; and in 1906, another half section in the .same county, at a net cost to the firm of $5,620. The last mentioned tract has been sold, since the last trial, for $12,800, of which only $2,000 was paid in cash. In 1905, he acquired a half section in Polk County, Minnesota. In 1907, he purchased a half section in Bottineau County. A quarter section acquired with partnership funds was exchanged for another quarter section in Bottineau County, North Dakota, W. C. receiving $1,000 as difference, which he retains. As defendant conceded all these lands to be partnership property, there is no occasion for entering further into detail. In 1912, W. C. exchanged the Minnesota land for the NE y± of Section 7 and the SE 14 of Section 6, Township 160 N., Range 80, in Bottineau County, North Dakota, subject to *1377an incumbrance of about $8,000, and took back a mortgage of $4,500 on the Minnesota land. . This latter mortgage has since been foreclosed, and a sheriff’s deed taken by W. C. As we understand it, he has paid the incumbrance on the two quarters described, and made improvements, amounting in all to $9,000, out of his individual funds. As the deal was made with copartnership land, we think this land rightly held to be the property of the ñrm. Asidé from this, there are two lots in Eagle Grove, other than his homestead, in his name, which belong to the firm.
¶20In the fall of 1881, J. R. bought 320 acres near Eagle Grove for $3,200, paying therefor from the undivided proceeds of the sale of cattle belonging to the firm, and also $40 for expenses in making the purchase. In 1884, he added an adjoining 40 acres, at a cost of $400, and> $30 expenses in perfecting the title. This land was improved and the taxes paid from partnership money, and all the income therefrom was deposited to the credit of the firm until December, 1910. The evidence shows that he talked with W. C. about buying this land, in order that he might have a farm of his own, and that W. C. advised him to purchase it. He lived there much of his time in the years shortly after acquiring it, as did W. O. on his farm near by, and each has uniformly referred to this farm as being J. R.’s. We are of opinion that the partners intended that it should be held by him individually.
¶21In 1897, J. R. purchased 118.77 acres of land in Mississippi for $828 from the firm funds. A 240-acre tract was bought in the same locality in 1901, at a cost of $1,000. These sums, as well as the taxes and cost of improvements since, were taken from the firm funds, and the income deposited to the firm’s credit. He passed two winters in the South, incidentally looking after these lands, and, aside from the circumstances related, nothing appears in the record to indicate that this was not a partnership transaction, *1378save the testimony of J. B. that he intended it for himself, and that W. C. knew it. In 1902, he purchased a section in Mercer County, North Dakota, for $1,500, and during the same year, exchanged store buildings in Eagle Grove, acquired with firm funds, of the estimated value of $3,300, for a section of land in Greggs County of the same state, subject to a mortgage of $4,000, paying another $4,000 difference. The cash payment was withdrawn from partnership funds, and the mortgage subsequently paid therefrom.
¶22V. Ten sections of land in Saskatchewan, Canada, were purchased through negotiations by W. C., and by agreement, the agent divided these, and title to five sections was taken in each. Having themselves agreed on a division, even though paid for from firm moneys, and to whom each section should be conveyed, the intention that each should take as his own is manifest. These lands cannot be regarded as partnership property.
¶23VI. As already indicated, we are inclined to regard the lands in Mississippi, North Dakota and Minnesota, as well as what is known as the Humboldt County farm, and the two lots, as partnership property. There are several reasons for so doing, (a) The partnership had dealt in land prior to the discontinuance of other business, some time in 1903. In 1893, J. B. purchased 80 acres of one Newcomb for $1,100, took the deed in the name of both, paid therefor from the funds of the firm, and, after retaining it several years, sold it at an advance of $1,878, the rents in the meantime exceeding the expenses in the way of improvements and taxes. In 1900, a farm of 140 acres of land was purchased by W. C. for $4,951, and title taken in his own name. It was sold, shortly afterwards, at an advance of $1,069, and the rents amounted to $169. The price was taken from the firm funds and the proceeds credited therein. Several tracts — 9 quarters at least — in South Dakota were purchased, but sold after the date mentioned; *1379and, though J. R. contends that those taken in his name were his individual property, all were purchased from the funds of the firm, and the proceeds thereof, when sold, deposited to the credit of the firm, and this done after it had ceased engaging in any business enterprise other than dealing in land. The money derived from the sale in the name of J. R. was not invested in lands purchased in North Dakota, as we understand J. R. to claim, for these sales occurred several years after the North Dakota land had been acquired in. his name. By 1906, lands had been bought and sold at an advance or a total profit to the firm of over $20,000. These deals disclose that, without any expressed understanding, other than at the beginning of the copartnership, it had drifted into dealing somewhat in real estate. ■ (b) The partnership was continued long after all business other than caring for and dealing in real estate had been closed. Why deposit all the rents and profits and the proceeds of the land when sold to the credit of the firm, and take therefrom moneys for repairs, improvements and taxes, if these did not belong to the firm, and were not appropriate charges against it? The course of business pursued is inconsistent with any theory other than that they were partners, and that the lands bought were being handled as capital, or assets of the firm, (c) The manner of handling the several tracts subsequent to their purchase is in entire harmony with the presumption arising from their purchase with firm funds. Of course, the one having title generally directed the making of improvements and the management of the farm, though not always; but each was the agent of the firm within the scope of its business, and appropriately might look after its property. Had the money withdrawn and invested in land been charged on the books of the firm to the partner so doing, or had such partner paid from his private purse for improvements and taxes, or appropriated to his own use the rents and profits, *1380we should have an entirely different case, id) The sums paid for these lands about equal the money borrowed by Smith Brothers, and the partnership was probably continued to handle and care for the lands and, from the rents and profits, or the proceeds when sold, to meet partnership obligations. Everything done in connection therewith is consistent with firm ownership and management.
¶24On 'the other hand, many witnesses testify to hearing these partners refer to lands in the other’s name as J. R.’s or W. C.’s farm, and in one instance, W. C. signed J. R.’s name to a lease, by himself as agent. But these statements were not made to those having any concern in the ownership, and might well have befen for identification, or as indicating in which the legal title stood. No such statement appears to have been made with reference to whether the land belonged to one of them or the partnership composed of both, and the method of signing the lease, in view of the legal title’s being in J. R., is not of much significance. A detailed review of this evidence will serve no useful purpose. The only bearing it hás is on the intention with which the parties acted in acquiring title; and, even though the several witnesses accurately remembered and repeated the statements made by each, this would not be sufficient to overcome the inference to be drawn from what was actually done. Nor is it material how W. 0. thought the affairs of the firm would be likely to be adjusted,-i. e., by-having each one retain the lands in his own name, in so far as feasible, in dividing. Such a supposition furnishes no aid to the determination of what these parties intended in acquiring the lands. The amounts paid therefor from the firm assets were not charged on any books of the firm to the partner withdrawing same. The moneys of the firm were used in caring therefor. The firm enjoyed the income derived therefrom. Everything done in connection therewith, except taking title in the name of the individual mem*1381hers of the firm, was consistent with ownership by the firm. It was continued in existence for no other purpose than that of handling and caring for lands and meeting obligations incurred for money borrowed, which indirectly constituted the purchase price; and it is only fair and just that out of these lands and the rents and profits derived therefrom the firm indebtedness be paid, and that whatever remains be shared equally by these men, whose joint energy, industry and intelligence have achieved an unusual success for each. We are of opinion that the lands so referred to are partnership property.
¶25VII. As heretofore stated, J. E. furnished as part of the capital, $2,000. He withdrew, for the purchase of the farm, $3,670. J. R. then withdrew $1,670 more than he paid in. W. C. invested, as part of the capital of the firm,, $8,375, and subsequently paid $5,000 received for- the Des Moines lots and $9,000 paid out in foreclosure of mortgage on Minnesota land and getting title to, half section in North Dakota. He withdrew $2,560 to pay for tracts of land added to his farm, $4,400 to purchase a home, $1,000 received on exchange of quarter sections in North Dakota, and $14,400 received for the Humboldt County farm. On computation, we find that W. C. has put in $15 more than he has taken out.
¶26VIII. The partnership account was closed ,at the bank Dec. 21, 1910. Prior thereto, J. R. had deposited all rents received, and withdrawn therefrom all expenses. W. C. had done the same until 1909, and thereafter appears not to have deposited the rents from his farm near Eagle Grove and the Humboldt County farm, and possibly some other lands. All rents that J. R. received from his farm near Eagle Grove and deposited to the firm’s credit after January 1, 1909, less whatever sum he withdrew for expenses thereafter, should be credited to him, and all rents received by him after Dec. 21, 1910, on the Mississippi and *1382North Dakota lands in his name, Jess taxes paid thereon and expenses incurred in connection therewith up to the present time, should be charged to him. W. C. must account for rents received on all lands in his name, other than the farm .near Eagle Grove, after Jan. 1, 1909, and not deposited to the firm’s credit prior to Dec. 21, 1909, and also thereafter to the present time, deducting taxes and other expenses incurred in connection therewith. As the cause must go - back for an accounting of rents and expenses incurred by the respective parties during the'years since decree was entered in the district court, we do not make the computation, but leave the matter of stating the account since Jan. 1, 1909, to the trial court, upon evidence contained in the record before us, and additional data furnished by the parties, or on such evidence as may be adduced by either or both parties.
¶27IX. The copartnership did business largely on borrowed money. Its indebtedness at the time of the hearing in the district court amounted to nearly $50,000, and W. G. had paid, up to Sept. 29, 1913, $13,143.10 besides. Counsel for plaintiff took exception to some of the items paid, and also suggested that some of the debts outstanding should be paid by W. G. alone. .All were debts of the firm, and even though for what the money borrowed was used or the debts incurred by one or both may not be recalled, neither would be relieved from contributing to their satisfaction. That the $3,000 mortgage on defendant’s farm should be paid by the firm is not questioned. The trial court ordered all such obligations paid, and this is approved.
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¶29The result is that the decree of the district court is' modified so that the money paid for his home is charged to W. C. and the property adjudged to belong to him in-' stead of to the partnership; the Humboldt County land adjudged to belong to the partnership instead of to W. C. individually; the rents collected by J. R. from the Mississippi and North Dakota land between Jan. 1, 1909, and Dec. 21, 1910, to belong to the firm, and not to be credited to him individually, as was done by the trial court; and the order appointing a receiver reversed. One half of the costs will he taxed to each party, and the cause "remanded for an accounting of rents and profits and expenses up to date.. The proceeds of any of the land adjudged to belong to the partnership sold by either party will be treated as the equivalent of the land. — Modified and Remanded.