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Show BILLIONS IN DISPUTE Claim of Southern Pacific Pa-cific to Oil Lands Before Be-fore Supreme Court Washington, .Ian. 13 An empire of oil lands, worth probablj more than a billion cfollars, WM the prize which brought group! of opposing lawyers today before the supreme court. The occasion was the argument of what replj the court should make to a request for instruction from the j United States circuit court of appeals for the Ninth circuit, w hich was unable un-able to determine, whether the South-ern South-ern Pacific company, or Edward i Burke, or other separate entrymen ; were entitled to land now said to be gushing lorth oil In California AH Roads Alfected The railroad company has patents to the land The government recently re-cently brought proceedings to have the patents cancc'led, but that question ques-tion Is not before the court. The patents pat-ents contained a provision, excepting ,all mineral lands from the grant. I Burke and other entrymen claim that ithe exception prevented the land palling to the railroad and that they are entitled to the lands under proper prop-er entry. The railroad contends that the exception is void, and any way. that evidence can not now le produced pro-duced to showed the lands are mineral min-eral or oil lands, the government ha -Ing issued a jatent for them and no fraud having been practiced upon it. Primarily, the Southern Pacific railroad rail-road alone is concerned in the pree-I ent controversy, but the same exceptions excep-tions are contained in patents to practically prac-tically every land grant railroad traversing tra-versing the west, and so all will be j affected by the decision. oo |