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Show Southern Pacific Company Is Defendant; Validity of Patents Pa-tents Basis of Action. HILL AND GREAT NORTHERN SAID TO BE INTERESTED Numerous Oil Fields of Central California Embraced in the Territory Involved. LOS ANGELES, Sept. 11. Suit was filed toda3 in the federal court here involving in-volving title on oil-bearing lands in the Coalinga, Midwaj- and other oil fiends of central California, said to be worth upward of $35,000,000. and now hold by tho Southern Pacific company of California. The suit is filod by T. S. Minot. an attorney of San Francisco. Tho total area of land involved is about, a half-million half-million acres. Tt was granted to the Southern Pacific Railroad company more than forty years ago. Patents were granted several 3'cars ago. Basis of tho Action. pit is tho validity of the government patents which is now attacked, the contention con-tention being that the laud was granted grant-ed on tho express stipulation that it must bo found to be moro valuable for agricultural purposes than for mineral. The railroad received alternative sections sec-tions for t went j" miles on either side of its tracks. Attorney Minot has not disclosed who his clients are, but a statenn:i: published by a local newspaper todav credits him "with saying that .T. J. Hill of tho Great Northern railroad is interested in-terested in the prospective litigation. Tho late E. H, Harriman was at first mado 0110 of the defendants in the pa-perB pa-perB proparod 111 tho suit, but after his death the Gling of the suit was postponed post-poned and the defendants were changed, the name of Harriman being eliminated. Many other prominent men are named. |