Chapter 165.
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/statutes-at-large/vol-23/chapter-165-1383738·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
CHAP. 165.— AN ACT to authorize the construction of a bridge across the Mississippi River at Memphis, Tennessee.February 26, 1885. *Be it enacted by the Senate and Souse of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Bridge across Mississippi River at Memphis Tenn., may be constructed by the Tennessee and Arkansas That the Tennessee and Arkansas Bridge Company, a corporation organized and created under and by virtue of the law s of the State of Arkansas, and the Tennessee Construction and Contracting Company, a corporation organized and created under and by virtue of the laws of Tennessee, be, and the same 334 FORTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS.
SESS. II. CH. 165. 1885. are hereby, jointly authorized and empowered to erect, construct, andBridge Company, and the Tennessee Construction and Contracting Company.Passage of Railway trains, etc. maintain a bridge over the Mississippi River from or near Memphis, in the State of Tennessee, to or near the town of Hopefield, in the State of Arkansas. Said bridge shall be constructed to provide for the passage of railway trains, and, at the option of the corporations by which it may be built, may be used for the passage of wagons and vehicles of all kinds, for the transit of Toll.animals, and for foot passengers, for such reasonable rates of toll as may be approved from time to time by the Secretary of War.
Sec. 2. That any bridge built under this act and subject to its limitationsDeclared a post-route and lawful structure. shall be a lawful structure, and shall be recognized and known 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, or for passengers or freight passing over said bridge, than the rate per mile paid for the transportation over the railroad or public highways leading to the said bridge; and it shall enjoy the rights and privileges of other post roads in the United States.
Sec. 3. That said bridge shall be made with unbroken and continuous Spans.spans; two spans thereof shall not be less than five hundred and fifty feet in length in the clear, and no span shall be less than three hundred feet in the clear. The lowest part of the superstructure of said bridge shall be at least sixty-five feet above extreme high-water mark, as understood at the point of location, and the bridge shall be at right angles to and its piers parallel with the current of the river.
No bridge shall be erected or maintained under the authority of this act Free navigation to be preserved.which shall at any time substantially or materially obstruct the free navigation of said river; and if any bridge erected under such authority shall, in the opinion of the Secretary of War, obstruct such navigation, he is hereby authorized to cause such change or alteration of said bridge to be made as will effectually obviate such obstruction; and all such alterations shall be made and all such obstructions be removed at the expense of the owner or owners of said bridge.
And in case of any litigation arising from any obstruction or alleged obstruction to the free navigation of said river, caused or alleged to be caused by said bridge, the case may be brought in the circuit court of the United States in which any portion of said obstruction or bridge*Proviso*. may be located: *Provided further*, That nothing in this act shall be so construed as to repeal or modify any of the provisions of law now existing in reference to the protection of the navigation of rivers, or to exempt this bridge from the operation of the same.
Sec. 4. That all railroad companies desiring the use of said bridgeRailroad companies to have equal rights, for compensation; Secretary of War to decide in case of failure of companies to agree. shall have and be entitled to equal rights and privileges relative to the passage of railway trains or cars over the same, and over the approaches thereto, upon payment of a reasonable compensation for such use; and in case the owner or owners of said bridge and the several railroad companies, or any one of them, desiring such use shall fail to agree upon the sum or sums to be paid, and upon rules and conditions to which each shall conform in using said bridge, all matters at issue between them shall be decided by the Secretary of War, upon a hearing of the *Proviso*, as to, sec. 2.allegations and proofs of the parties: *Provided*, That the provisions of section two in regard to charges for passengers and freight across said bridge shall not govern the Secretary of War in determining any question arising as to the sum or sums to be paid to the owners of said bridge by said railroad companies for the use of said bridge.
Sec. 5. That any bridge authorized to be constructed under this actSecretary of War to prescribe regulations for security of navigation.Maps, plans, etc., to be submitted to the Secretary of War for approval. shall be built and located under and subject to such regulations for the security of navigation of said river as the Secretary of War shall prescribe; and to secure that object the said companies or corporations shall submit to the Secretary of War, for his examination and approval, a design and drawings of the bridge, and a map of the location, giving, for the space of two miles above and two miles below the proposed location, the topography of the banks of the river, the shorelines at extreme 335 FORTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS.
SESS. II. CH. 165,166, 260. 1885. high and low water, the direction and strength of the currents at all stages, and the soundings, accurately showing the bed of the stream, the location of any other bridge or bridges, and shall furnish such other information as may be required for a full and satisfactory understanding of the subject; and until the said plan and location of the bridge are approved by the Secretary of War the bridge shall not be built; and should any change be made in the plan of said bridge during the progress of construction, such change shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary of War.
Sec. 6. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this act is herebySpecified rights of the United States reserved. expressly reserved; and the right to require any changes in said structure, or its entire removal, at the expense of the owners thereof, whenever Congress shall decide that the public interests require it, is also expressly reserved. Sec. 7. That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of War, on satisfactorySpecial structures as aids to passage of bridge, etc. proof that a necessity exists therefor, to require.the companies or persons owning said bridge to cause such aids to the passage of said bridge to be constructed, placed, anti maintained at their own cost and expense, in the form of booms, dikes, piers, or other suitable and proper structures for the guiding of rafts, steamboats, and other watercraft safely through the passageway, as shall be specified in his order in that behalf; and on failure of the company or persons aforesaid to make and establish such additional structures within a reasonable time, the saidPenalty.
Secretary shall proceed to cause the same to be built or made at the expense of the United States, and shall refer the matter without delay to the Attorney-General of the United States, whose duty it shall be to institute, in the name of the United States, proceedings in any circuit court of the United States in which such bridge or any part thereof, is located for the recovery of the cost thereof; and all moneys accruing from such proceedings shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States.
Approved, February 26, 1885.