Upshur County v. Heydrick

221 S.W.2d 326, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 1948
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 20, 1949
DocketNo. 2717
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 221 S.W.2d 326 (Upshur County v. Heydrick) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Upshur County v. Heydrick, 221 S.W.2d 326, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 1948 (Tex. Ct. App. 1949).

Opinion

CODLINGS, Justice.

Appellant Upshur County, filed this suit, in the District Court on October 21, 1946 against L. C. Heydrick and others, for the title and possession of the oil, gas and other minerals in, on and under four leagues, more or less, of school lands granted to it by the State of Texas for school purposes and asked for the cancellation of a mineral conveyance which had been executed by the Commissioners’ Court of said County on January 1, 1925. The judgment of the trial court was for appellants against certain defendants who either filed disclaimers or failed to file answers, but provided that appellants take nothing as to ap-pellees. From the adverse portion of such judgment appellant brings this appeal.

The case was tried bef ore the court without a jury and the facts are substantially as follows: Upshur County, acting through its Commissioners’ Court, on January 1, 1925, by written instrument, conveyed to E. A. Stevens and A. S. Everest, predecessors in title of appellees, all the oil, gas and other minerals in and under the school lands that were being held by Upshur County in trust for the school fund of said County, being four leagues of land, more or less, located in Throckmorton and Baylor Counties.

The mineral conveyance in question provided that the title and rights conveyed were defeasible upon the following conditions :

“If the said grantees, their heirs and assigns, shall fail to discover oil or gas in paying quantities on said premises within five yea.rs from the date hereof, then this conveyance shall become null and void and of no further force and effect.

“If the .said grantees, their heirs or assigns, shall fail to begin the drilling of a well for oil or gas upon said premises by the first day of April, 1925, then this conveyance shall become null and void.”

The conveyance provided, in addition, the following obligations on the part of grantees therein:

, “The Grantees agree and obligate themselves, their heirs and assigns, that they will begin the actual drilling of a well for oil or gas upon some portion of the above described premises by April 1, 1925,- and to begin the drilling of a second well upon said premises within ninety days thereafter; and likewise to begin the actual drilling of a third well upon said premises within six months after the beginning of the first well, and shall begin the drilling of the fourth well upon said premises within nine months from the beginning of the drilling of the first well.

“The grantees obligate themselves to drill said wells with due diligence to the depth of sixteen hundred and fifty (1650) feet or to oil or gas in paying quantities at a lesser depth.”

The .consideration recited in the instrument in addition to the above, was $10 cash in hand paid and payment of a sum of money equal to one-eighth of the gross pro>-ceeds of all the oil and gas produced and saved from said premises, to be paid within fifteen days after the expiration of the month when produced.

The court found that the grantees, their heirs and/or assigns began the actual drilling of a well for oil or gas upon some portion of the above described premises by April 1, 1925, and began the-drilling of a second well upon, said-premises-within the time provided by an extension agreement executed by all parties to the original mineral conveyance; and likewise, began the actual drilling of a third well upon said premises within six months after the beginning of the first well and also began the drilling of a fourth well upon said premises within nine months from the beginning of the drilling of the first well. -

The court further found -that the grantees, their heirs and/or assigns drilled said wells with due diligence and to a depth of 1,650 feet or to oil or 'gas in paying quantities at a lesser depth.

[328]*328The court found that appellant as plaintiff, failed to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that oil in paying quantities was not discovered within the five year period provided in the mineral conveyance, but that tihe appellees did establish, by a preponderance of the evidence, that oil was discovered in paying quantities from said premises within five years from the date of said instrument.

The court further found that under the terms of the instrument above mentioned, the grantees, their heirs -and/or assigns, paid to Upshur County for the use of the school fund of said county, the sum of money equal to one-eighth of the gross proceeds of all the oil produced and saved from said premises, and that said sums of money were paid within fifteen days after the expiration of any month such substance was produced from any wells drilled on said premises.

The court further found that the said A. S. Everest and E. A. Stevens and/or their assigns complied with all of the terms of the mineral conveyance in question within the time and in -the manner provided in said conveyance.

Appellant contends in Point No-, 1 that the mineral conveyance in question is invalid and void and that the trial court erred in not so holding. The basis of this contention is the stated proposition that the consideration for the sale of public lands must be cash and that the consideration for this instrument is not cash or the equivalent. It is' further contended that such consideration is speculative in that it depends entirely upon the amount of oil or gas recovered except for a nominal consideration of $10. Appellant insists that the Commissioners’ Court had no power -to -so speculate with the minerals under its county school land. It may be noted that in addition to the $10 cash consideration recited in the instrument, there was a provision for the- drilling of four oil wells. These wells were actually drilled. Appellee Heydrick testified that the cost of these wells was about $50,000. This consideration was in addition to the promise of payment of one-eighth of the value of any oil or gas produced, if found in paying quantities. Ordinarily a money consideration alone will support an oil and gas lease, even though it.be for a nominal sum, where there is an additional provision to pay a proportional part of the oil and gas recovered. Bailey v. Shell Petroleum Corp., Tex.Civ.App., 95 S.W.2d 982; Johnson v. Montgomery, Tex.Civ.App., 31 S.W.2d 160. We cannot agree with appellant’s proposition that the entire contract was invalid and void because the one-eighth royalty provision covered oil and gas only and did not include -other minerals. It is our opinion -that -the instrument in question was supported by a -substantial consideration and that the trial court did not err in holding that it was a valid conveyance. Ehlinger v. Clark, 117 Tex. 547, 8 S.W.2d 666; Texas Cent. Ry. Co. v. Bowman, 97 Tex. 417, 79 S.W. 295; Imperial Irr. Co. v. Jayne, 104 Tex. 395, 138 S.W. 575, Ann. Cas.1914B, 322; Avis v. First Nat. Bank of Wichita Falls, 141 Tex. 489, 174 S.W.2d 255; Short et al. v. W. T. Carter & Brother, et al., 133 Tex. 202, 126 S.W.2d 953. On the question of the authority of the Commissioners’-Court to lease, sell -or contract with reference to -the development of the mineral interest in school land, we quote the following from the case of Ehlinger v.

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221 S.W.2d 326, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 1948, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/upshur-county-v-heydrick-texapp-1949.