Halla

This was an action in ejectment brought by the defendants in error against the plaintiffs in error in the District Court for the District of Alaska, Second Division, to recover possession of a certain placer mining claim in the Cape Nome mining district described as the “Golden Bull Claim.” Plaintiffs in the court below (defendants in error) based their right of action upon a lease executed by the defendants (plaintiffs in error) on February 26, 1906, wherein they leased the mining claim in controversy to F. R. Cowden, one of the plaintiffs, for a term of years beginning on February 26, 1906, and extending until July 1, 1909. By an assignment dated March 6, 1906, the plaintiffs, as copartners doing a mining business under the firm name and style of the Golden Bull Mining Company, succeeded to the interest of F. R. Cow-den. It was provided, among other things, in the lease, that the lessees should enter upon the mining claim described immediately after the execution of the lease and work and mine the same steadily and continuously during the term thereof during the mining season, and it was further provided that any failure to work and mine the same for a period of 15 consecutive…