Clyborne v. McNeil

This is a declaratory judgment proceeding brought by the appellees to have interpreted a coal mining lease made by them as lessors to the predecessors of the appellants as lessees, dated August 1, 1948'. By the lease the lessors demised and leased to the lessees, their heirs, successors and assigns, the exclusive right to mine and remove “by deep mining or strip mining methods, or both,” all the merchantable and mineable coal on a tract of land on Dismal River in Buchanan county containing 750 acres, for which the lessees agreed to pay to the lessors 15 cents a ton, to be “determined by…