Proctor

March 27, 1917, the plaintiff in this suit filed his coal declaratory statement for the northeast quarter of section 34, township 22 north, range 7 east W. M. May 14, 1919, the Department of *975 the Interior denied his application to purchase. March 24, 1920, the appellee Painter received a patent from the United States for the south half of the quarter section in question, and other lands, under the Act of June 22, 1910 ( 36 Stat. 583 [Comp. St. §§ 4666-4668]), which provides that unreserved public lands of the United States, exclusive of Alaska, which have been withdrawn or classified as coal lands, or are valuable for coal, shall be subject to appropriate entry under the homestead laws by actual settlers only, and that patents therefor shall contain a reservation to the United States of all the coal in the land so patented, together with the light to prospect for, mine, and remove the same. The patent to Painter contained no such reservation. August 22, 1922, the United States leased to the appellee coal company 600 acres of section 34, including the entire quarter section claimed by the appellant, under the Leasing Act of February 25,1920 ( 41 Stat. 437 [Comp. St. §§…