183 Pa. 66 | Pa. | 1897
Opinion by
This case presents a question of considerable importance to the owners of mineral lands, which does not seem to have been decided by the courts or to have been discussed by text writers, so far as we have been able to discover. It will be readily understood from a brief statement of the facts out of which it arises. The plaintiff company is engaged in mining and selling anthracite coal. As early as 1825 it was the owner of a considerable body of contiguous lands which had been purchased by it because of the coal underlying it. A tract known as the “Porter Tract,” containing two hundred acres was part of this body of coal land. The coal upon it was opened by the company at some time between 1830 and 1835, and mining opera
The conveyance of the coal creates in the vendee an interest in land. The deed or other conveyance is within the recording acts, and is subject to all the rules and regulations governing conveyances of the surface. It may convey an estate in fee simple in the coal or other mineral, or any lesser estate, in the same manner and by the same words of grant made use of in conveyances of the surface. When such a conveyance has been
The company had the light, however, to develop and operate the mineral estate alone, if that was to its interest, and leave the surface unfilled and uncleared. It elected to do so. It erected its breaker, opened its mine, extended its gangways, arranged its tracks and sidings, and began the production of coal for the market from beneath the surface of the “ Porter Tract ” and its adjoining lands. In this manner it entered upon the actual possession of its mineral estate. For more than sixty years it has continued its possession without interruption in a manner that has been obvious to all persons in the neighborhood. No person could pass or enter upon the land without being confronted with the unmistakable proofs of the possession and active operations of the plaintiff company in this, its subterranean estate. These proofs, including the structures, the culm piles, the prepared coal, the movements of men and cars about the pit’s mouth, brought the knowledge of the plaintiffs’ operations to even the most casual observer, in a much more effective and satisfactory manner than it could have been done by the mere existence of a recorded deed. Why should it not have the same legal effect? In this case there is still another element ot notice : for the defendant not only made his entry upon the surface with full knowledge from the acts of the owner of his severance and the occupancy of the lower estate by it, but be was in its employ, assisting in its mining operations. He was one of the persons by whose labor the plaintiff' company preserved its possession and kept its own flag flying. Surely notice could go no farther than this. The recording of a deed is
It Avould be inequitable and unjust to hold otherwise in this case. He had stolen in upon the surface while at Avork for the company that owned both it and the coal. He knew of the severance in fact of these estates, and aided in the general work that made the severance evident to the world. If entering under such circumstances he could acquire the surface, he is limited to it. Knowing all the facts he was bound, if he desired to acquire title to his employer’s mine or any part of it, to enter upon the mineral estate at some point, take possession, hold it openly and adversely for twenty-one years, so that his position and claim could have been knoAvn to the owner. Any different holding Avould lead to Arery absurd results. It would require