Union Oil Co. v. Smith
United States Supreme Court
249 U.S. 337 (1919)
Relevant factsFree
Union Oil (defendant) located five contiguous mining claims without actually occupying all of them, and while it conducted exploratory drilling on one contiguous claim without finding oil, Smith and associates (plaintiffs) occupied a different one of the five claims; both parties asserted rights to Smith's occupied claim, and the trial court and state supreme court ruled for Smith.
IssueFree
Whether, under federal mining law, an oil prospector has a possessory right to a claimed site prior to discovering oil if the prospector did not occupy the site prior to the discovery.