Chapter 130. granting to the Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company the right of way through the Indian reservations in Northern Montana, and Northwestern Dakota
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CHAP. 130.— An Act granting to the Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company the right of way through the Indian reservations in Northern Montana, and Northwestern Dakota.Feb. 15, 1887. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company granted right of way through Fort, Berthold and Blackfeet Indian Reservations. That the right of way is hereby granted, as hereinafter set forth, to the Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Minnesota, for the extension of its railroad through the lands in Northwestern Dakota set. apart for the use of the Arickaree, Gros Ventre, and Mandan Indians by executive order dated July thirteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty, commonly known as the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, and through the lands in Northern Montana, set apart for the use of the Gros Ventre, Piegan, Blood, Blackfeet, and other Indians by act of Congress approved April fifteenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, and commonly known as the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.
Sec. 2. That the line of said railroad shall extend from Minot, theLocation. present terminus of said Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway, across said Fort Berthold Reservation, north of the township-line between townships numbered one hundred and fifty-three and one 403 hundred and fifty-four north; thence along the Missouri River by the most convenient and practicable route to the valley of the Milk River; thence along the valley of the Milk River to Fort Assinniboine; thence southwesterly to the Great Falls of the Missouri River.
Sec. 3. That the right of way hereby granted to said company shallDimension. be seventy five feet in width on each side of the central line of said railroad as aforesaid; and said company shall also have the right to take from said lands adjacent to the line of said road material, stone, earth, and timber necessary for the construction of said railroad; also ground adjacent to such right of way for station-buildings, depots, machine-shops, sidetracks, turnouts, and water-stations, not to exceed in amount three hundred feet in width and three thousand feet in length for each station, to the extent of one station for each ten miles of its road.
Sec 4. That it shall be the duty cf the Secretary of the Interior toAscertainment and payment of damages. fix the amount of compensation to be paid the Indians for such right of way, and provide the time and manner for the payment thereof, and also to ascertain and fix the amount of compensation to be made individual members of the tribe for damages sustained by them by reason of the construction of said road; but no right of any kind shall vest in said railway company in or to any part of the right of way herein Provided for until plats thereof, made upon actual survey for the definite location of such railroad, and including the points for station buildings, depots, machine shops, side tracks, turnouts, and water-stations, shall be filed with and approved by the Secretary of the Interior, and until the compensation aforesaid has been fixed and paid; and the surveys construction and operation of such railroad shall be conducted with due regard for the rights of the Indians, and in accordance with such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may make to carry out this provision.
Sec. 5. That the right of way across lands occupied or reserved forRight of way across military reservations. military purposes along the line of said railroad is hereby granted to said company the same as across said Indian reservations; *Provided, however*, That the survey and location of said railroad across such lands shall be first approved by the Secretary of War. Sec. 6. That said company shall not assign or transfer or mortgageNot assignable before completion.*Provisos*. this right of way for any purpose whatever until said road shall be completed: *Provided*, That the company may mortgage said franchise, together with the rollingstock, for money to construct and complete said road: *And provided further*, That the right granted herein shall be lostForfeited if road is not built in two years. and forfeited by said company unless the road is constructed and in running order within two years from the passage of this act.
Approved, February 15, 1887.