Reservation Gas Co. v. Snyder

This is an action to restrain the defendants from drilling a gas well on lands claimed by the defendant John Snyder, a Seneca Indian, residing upon the Cattaraugus reservation, which lands have been cultivated and improved and occupied by him and his Indian predecessors for upwards of forty years. He claims the right to use said premises exclusively for all purposes, including the production of oil and gas, as if he were the owner thereof in fee simple absolute.

*210The plaintiffs hold a lease granted by the council of the Seneca Nation in August, 1910, to Edward Bolard, which purports to convey…