Mendota Coal & Coke Co. v. Eastern Ry. & Lumber Co.

On September 2, 1905, appellee, Eastern Railway & Lumber Company, leased to P. H. Smith and Alexander McLaren, for a term of ninety-nine years, 8,000 acres of land in Lewis county, Wash., for the purpose of exploration for and development and mining of coal and other minerals. These lands are on the Northern Pacific Railroad, about one hundred miles from both Portland and Seattle, about fifty miles from Tacoma, and about thirty-five miles from Olympia. In 1907 the lessees, Smith and McLaren, assigned the lease to appellant, Mendota Coal & Coke Company, a corporation which they and others had formed;' and appellant has been in possession of the property ever since.

The obligation of the lessees, and of appellant as their successor, was to enter upon the premises and to prospect for coal, oil, and other mineral products, and to “mine, remove, sell * * ' all coal, oil and other mineral products upon or under said land.” The lease contained the further provision that “the mining and selling of coal under this agreement shall be conducted and prosecuted in an ordinarily prudent and businesslike manner.” No minimum production was provided for, nor does the lease contain any requirement…