United States v. Record Oil Co.

(silting by special assignment). These three suits were brought to enjoin the defendants from occupying or extracting and removing the oil from the northeast, northwest, and southeast quarters of section 28, township 31, range 23 east of Mt. Diablo meridian, in the state of California, and to require them to account to plaintiff for oil heretofore taken. The cases were tried and submitted together and will be so considered in this memorandum.

The land is chiefly valuable for its petroleum contents. It is within the area withdrawn from all forms of location, entry or disposal by presidential order of September 27, 1909. No discovery of oil had been made on any part of the property at the date of withdrawal, but defendants claim that they or their predecessors in interest were bona fide occupants or claimants thereof at the date of withdrawal, and were then in diligent prosecution of work leading to discovery, which was subsequently made, and are therefore entitled to the property by virtue of the provisions of the act of June, 1910, known as the Pickett Act ( 36 Stat. 847 ), and a final certificate issued by the Land Department on a patent application.

The facts, so far as…