Keim Keim v. Lochrie Reese

Opinion by

Linn, J.,

Plaintiffs sued on a so-called coal-mining lease for minimum royalty alleged to be due on coal which was not, but should have been, mined out of a 9 acre tract described in the lease. The veins of coal extended under a public road and under a stream on the tract, the area of the coal under both being 2.54 acres. The lease was of “all the marketable coal contained in the ‘E’ or coke yard seam.;-the C-prime or cement seam; and the ‘B’ or Miller seam under all that certain tract” of land etc. The defense was that the contract did not require defendant to mine the coal under…