Chapter CCCLIV. granting the Right of Way through the public Lands to the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company
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CHAP. CCCLIV.— An Act granting the Right of Way through the public Lands to the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company.June 8, 1872. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That the right of way over theRight of way through the public lands granted to the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Co.Extent of grant. public domain, one hundred feet in width on each side of the track, together with such public lands adjacent thereto as may be needed for depots, shops, and other buildings for railroad purposes, and for yard-room and side-tracks, not exceeding twenty acres at any one station, and not more than one station in every ten miles, and the right to take from the public lands adjacent thereto stone, timber, earth, water, and other material required for the construction and repair of its railway and telegraph line be, and the same are hereby, granted and confirmed unto the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company, a corporation created under the incorporation laws of the Territory of Colorado, its successors and assigns; and all the rights, powers, and franchises conferred by the said laws on corporations created under them for constructing and operating railroad and telegraph lines are hereby ratified and confirmed to the above-named railway company, its successors and assigns; and the same rights, powers, and franchises conferred by the general incorporation laws of the Territory of Colorado for the construction of railroads and telegraph lines, are hereby granted to the said company, its successors and assigns, for the extension and operation of its railway and telegraph line in and through any contiguous territory of the United States to the northern boundary line of Mexico, subject to the compliance with the conditions and requirements of the general incorporation laws of such territory so far as the same are applicable and not inconsistent with the laws of the United States; and the same rights, powers, and privileges conferred upon the Union Pacific Railroad Company by section three of an act approved1864, ch. 216, § 3.Vol. xiii. p. 357.
July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, are hereby conferred upon the above-named company, its successors and assigns: *Provided,* ThatDamages. applications for the assessment of damages shall be made to the court, or any judge of a court having jurisdiction in the county in which the lands or premises lie: *Provided,* That said company shall complete its railwayRailway when to be completed. to a point on the Rio Grande as far south as Santa Fé within five years of the passage of this act, and shall complete fifty miles additional south of said point in each year thereafter, and in default thereof, the rights and privileges herein granted shall be rendered null and void so far as respects the unfinished portion of said road: *And provided further,* That nothingProviso. in this act contained shall be construed as affirming or denying the right of any territory to incorporate a railroad company.
Approved, June 8, 1872.