Chapter 162.
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CHAP. 162.— An act to authorize the Saint Paul and Chicago Short Line Railway Company to construct a bridge across Lake Saint Croix, and to establish it as a post-road.June 9, 1880. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,St. Paul and Chicago Short Line Railway Company to construct bridge across Lake St. Croix. That it shall be lawful for the Saint Paul and Chicago Short Line Railway Company, a corporation created and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Wisconsin, to build a bridge across the Lake Saint Croix from such point in township number twenty-six north, of range twenty west of the fourth principal meridian, in the county of Pierce and State of Wisconsin, as may be hereafter selected by said railway company, to such point in the county of Washington, in the State of Minnesota, as may hereafter be selected by said railway company, and to lay on or over said bridge, railway tracks for the more perfect connection of its railway tracks as they may hereafter be built to the points aforesaid on either side of said *Proviso*.lake under the limitations and conditions herein: *Provided*, That said bridge shall not interfere with the free navigation of said lake beyond what is necessary in order to carry into effect the rights and privileges hereby granted, and in case of any litigation arising from any obstruction or alleged obstruction to the free navigation of said lake, the cause shall be tried before the district court of the United States for the district of Minnesota or the western district of Wisconsin.
Sec. 2. That any bridge built under the provisions of this act may, at the option of said railway company, be built as a drawbridge with a pivot or other form of draw, or with unbroken or continuous spans: *Proviso*.*Provided*, That if the said bridge shall be made with unbroken and continuous spans, it shall not be of less elevation in any case than fifty feet above extreme high-water mark as understood at the point of location to the bottom chord of the bridge; nor shall the span of said bridge be less than two hundred feet in length, and the piers of said bridge shall be parallel with the current of the lake, and the main span shall be over the main channel of the lake and not less than two hundred feet in *Proviso*.length: *And provided also*, That if any bridge built under this act shall be constructed as a drawbridge, the same shall be constructed as a pivot drawbridge with a draw over the main channel of the lake at an accessible and navigable point, and with spans of not less than one hundred and sixty feet in the clear at low-water surface on each side of the central or pivot pier of the draw; and the next adjoining spans to the draw shall be not less than one hundred and forty feet, and said spans shall not be less than ten feet above extreme high-water mark, and not less than thirty feet above low-water mark, measuring to the bottom chord of the bridge; and the piers of said bridge shall be parallel 169 FORTY SIXTH CONGRESS.
Sess. II. Ch. 162, 163, 164. 1880. with the current of the lake: *And provided also*, That said draw shall*Proviso*. be opened promptly, upon reasonable signal, for the passage of boats, and in no case shall unnecessary delay occur in opening said drawbridge during or after the passage of trains. Sec. 3. That any bridge constructed under the provisions of this actBridge to be recognized as a post-route. and according to its limitations shall be a lawful structure, and shall be known and recognized as a post-route, upon which also no higher charge shall be made for the transmission over the same of the mails, the troops, and the munitions of war of the United States than the rate per mile paid for their transportation over the railroads or public highways leading to the said bridge, and the United States shall have the right of way for postal telegraph purposes across said bridge.
Sec. 4. That all railway companies desiring to use said bridge shallRailway companies entitled to rights and privileges. have and be entitled to equal rights and privileges in the passage of the same and in the use of the machinery and fixtures thereof, and of all the approaches thereto, under and upon such terms and conditions as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of War upon hearing the allegations and proofs of the parties in case they shall not agree. Sec. 5. That the plan and specifications with the necessary drawings ofPlans and specifications. said bridge shall be submitted to the Secretary of War for his approval, and until he approve the plan and location of said bridge it shall not be built or commenced, and should any change be made in the plan of said bridge during the progress of the work thereon such changes shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary of War, and all changes in the construction of said bridge that may be directed by Congress shall be made at the cost and expense of the owners thereof.
Sec. 6. That the right to alter, amend or repeal this act as in theReservations. judgment of Congress the public good may require and to compel the removal of any obstructions to navigation caused by said bridge at the expense of the persons or corporations taking the benefit of this act, is hereby reserved. Approved, June 9, 1880. Chapter 163: confirming the title to block numbered fourteen, in Baker City, Oregon, to Baker County. Chapter 163 21 Stat. 169 1880-06-09 United States Government Publishing Office text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
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