Excerpt from Opinion of Woodward, J: Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, Vs. Harlan and Henderson

On the 29th June, 1846, the Company made another lease to some of the same individuals, under the name of John Anderson Co. Of another vein called the P. Vein, for the same term, and upon the same rent that they held the Q. Vein. They were to drive at their own ex pense a tunnel from the Q. To the P. Vein, and were to mine from the two veins not less than fifteen thousand tons per annum. On the 27th of January, 1847, the lessees assigned both these leases to the defeu dants in error, Harlan Henderson, who went into possession Of these two veins.

On the 12th April, 1847, the Company entered into a lease with Harlan 82: Henderson, which is the instrument declared on, and which leased to them for the term of three years from lst April 1847, the right and privilege to mine and take away stone coal from the veins known as the R. And S. Veins, and any other veins intermediate between said veins and the Q. Vein in the Sharp moun tain, yielding and paying therefor 25 cents per ton for chestnut coal, and 50 cents per ton for all coal of a larger size, subject to a deduction on the whole of said rent of 5 per cent.

Thus by virtue of these several leases the plaintiff's below became tenants of four distinct coal veins of the Navigation Company.

They commenced mining in the two first named veins, in February, 1847, and after the third lease. They pushed the rock tunnel from the Q. To the R. Vein, which they reached in March, 1848. They found this vein 25 feet thick, but all in dirt fault, and after driving the gang way 415 feet in it Without getting through the fault, they abandoned the vein early in December, 1848. They extended the rock tunnel on towards S. Until they reached what they supposed was that vein, about a foot thick of Shelly faulty coal not fit for use. According to Mr. Patterson, the Company's agent, the plaintiffs never reached the S. Vein at all. From the Court's summary of the evidence, it appears that there were mined during the three years, tons, of which 104 tons came from the R. Vein - all the rest from P. And Q. - that the gross rent therefor amounted to about - that the plaintiffs paid the Com pany in cash and in houses built, $4000 more, and that they have yet in hand of rent.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.