Borgwardt

This is an appeal from a judgment given in an action commenced June 1, 1908, to quiet plaintiffs’ title to the northeast quarter of section 12, township 30 south, range 21 east, Mt. Diablo base and meridian, containing one hundred and sixty acres, which is valuable for petroleum oil. Plaintiffs claim under an attempted United States placer mining location; initiated by the posting by them of notice of location on the ground on May 26, 1908, while defendant claims under two locations initiated on September 19, 1899, one including the north one-half of said northeast quarter, with lots 1 and 2 in the northwest quarter of the same section, and the other including the south one-half of said northeast one-quarter, with lots 3, 4, 5, and 6 in the southeast quarter of the same section.

The findings of the trial court, which are in full accord with the allegations of the complaint of plaintiffs, are to the following effect: Plaintiffs, who were then citizens of the United States over the age of twenty-one years, on May 26, 1908, filed a mineral location covering said quarter section under and pursuant to the provisions of chapter VI, title 32, Revised Statutes of the United States, by…