The BUSKLAW Newsletter

It has been called black gold and Texas tea. It  can make hillbillies rich enough to move to a Beverly Hills mansion.  If you own some acreage, you might have it and not know it. In the early 1900s, speculators (colorfully called "wildcatters") would look for it and if found, they often became today's equivalent of Job and Gates. And Michigan had it in abundance.   We are talking about crude oil. Even with market fluctuations and oil's effect on global warming, you can still make some money having it extracted from your land. Just ask the Allens of Pennsylvania, who had high hopes when the SWEPI company came calling to look for oil on their property. So the Allens signed SWEPI's mineral rights lease that stated in part: [This Agreement] is made on the condition that within 60 days from the Effective Date of this lease, [SWEPI] shall pay to [Allens] the sum of $2,000 per acre for the first year. The 60 days came and went and SWEPI didn't pay a dime to