De John v. Alaska Matanuska Coal Co.

This suit was brought by appellee Alaska Matanuska Coal Company to determine the right of possession to 320 acres of coal land constituting unit No. 1, Matanuska Coal Fields in Alaska. Title thereto is in the United States, *but, under the Alaska Coal Leasing Act Oct. 20, 1914 ( 38 Stat. 741 [ 48 U.S.C.A. § 432 et seq.]), the Secretary of the Interior had, on May S, 1922, given to appellant Agostino a lease thereon, and subsequently, in 1927, assuming that the Matanuska Company had succeeded to Agostino’s rights, he executed to it a new, consolidated lease covering this unit and other adjacent lands. For some time the property had .been, and at the time the suit was instituted it was, in the actual possession of appellee Tarwater, as a receiver appointed by and acting under orders of the court in another proceeding. The receivership court, being desirous of winding up the administration, and being advised of conflicting claims touching the right of possession, granted leave to the Matanuska Company to bring suit against the *519 receiver for the purpose of determining that question, and subsequently ordered in the several parties who were asserting adverse claims. Accordingly,…