Cascaden

The plaintiffs in error, who were plaintiffs in the court below, brought this action to recover from the defendant thereto two certain lots of land situated in the town commonly known as “Gates City,” in the Fairbanks mining district, territory of Alaska, alleging in their complaint themselves to be the owners, as against all persons except the United States, of the lots of land, and entitled to their possession, and alleging the unlawful entry thereon by the defendant, and his ousting of the plaintiffs, and his withholding of the possession of the property from them.

The answer of the defendant put in issue the allegations of the complaint, and affirmatively alleged that at the time of the defendant’s entry upon the lots in question they constituted a part of the vacant and unappropriated public lands of the United States, and that, as such, he entered into the possession of the land and built thereon two log cabins, and has ever since continued in the actual possession thereof. In an amended answer the defendant also put in issue the allegations of the complaint, and repeated the affirmative averments of his original answer, and added the following averments: “That said cabins…