Hurst v. Rice

Robert H. Dudley, Justice.

Both parties to this appeal claim forty acres of mineral rights in Johnson County. Gas and coal are now at stake.

In 1919 Rebecca Rogers Smith deeded her dower interest in the land to W. A. Hill. In 1920 he conveyed his interest in the surface “with all coal and mineral reserved, all right to mine, strip or enter and remove any and all coal is reserved.” Appellees, the Hills, claim their title to the minerals through W. A. Hill. The mineral rights were not properly subjoined with the surface rights on the tax books in the years material to this appeal and, in 1929,…