George Shiras, Jr.

“ The real subject of the grant was the gas and oil contained in or obtainable through the land, or rather the right to take possession of the gas and oil by mining and boring for the same.
Petroleum gas and oil are substances of a peculiar character, and decisions in ordinary cases of mining, for coal and other minerals which have a fixed situs, cannot be applied to contracts concerning them without some qualifications. They belong to the owner of the land, and are part of it, so long as they are on it or in it or subject to his control ”

“ These are matters within the common experience or knowledge of all men living in those portions of the country where oil and gas are produced, and courts will take notice of whatever ought to be generally known within the limits of their jurisdiction. ”

“ The so-called 'exception' does not seek to reserve anything out of the grant to bore or mine for oil and gas, nor to restrict the rights of way to 30 acres. Its only purport is to forbid the drilling of wells upon the 10 acres. While the lease, in some sense, may be said to cover the entire tract for gas and oil purposes, yet the operation of drilling wells, with its accompanying discomforts to those living on the tract, is restricted to the 30 acres. ”