Chapter 381.
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CHAP. 381.— An act to provide for the ascertainment of the market value of certain property in the city of Chicago, and to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to sell and convey said property.May 27, 1886. Whereas the Chicago and Great Western Railroad Company, a corporationPreamble. chartered under the laws of the State of Illinois, is constructing its railroad within the city of Chicago, and possesses, under its charter and under the ordinances of said city, a franchise to construct, maintain, and operate its railroad to Harrison street, in said city, for which purpose it has acquired, and is acquiring, by purchase and otherwise, the real estate lying between Taylor street and said Harrison street, and west of Fifth avenue; and Whereas the United States owns the south half of block eighty-seven, in school-section addition to Chicago, which is in the center of the property so acquired and being acquired by said railroad company for terminal facilities, and is vacant, and is indispensable to said company in exercising said franchise and affording to the public the terminal facilities for which said company has so purchased the property as aforesaid:
Therefore, *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Lot in Chicago to be sold to Chicago and Great Western R. R. Co. Appraisal. That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, directed to name, within ten days after the passage of this act, a commission, to consist of three disinterested persons, whose duty it shall be to ascertain and report to said Secretary, within twenty days after their said appointment, the cash market value of the lot above mentioned in the city of Chicago; and the said Secretary is hereby authorized and empowered to sell and convey the said lot to the said Chicago and Great Western Railroad Company at such price, not less in any event than the value thereof as appraised and reported by said commission, as he and said railroad company shall agree upon; the said price, when agreed upon, to be paid in cash: *Provided, however*,*Proviso*.
Secretary of the Treasury to be satisfied as to price, etc. That nothing in this act shall be construed so as to direct said Secretary to make said sale unless he shall deem the price fixed by the commission or agreed to be paid by said railroad company to be a fair 71 and reasonable price, and that the interests of the Government will not stiffer by said sale, and upon payment to the Secretary of the Treasury of said price the title to said property shall vest in said company, its successors and assigns.
Upon the following express conditions, that all non-competing railroads not now having right of way into Chicago,Non-competing railroads to have right of way. desiring to use the tracks, switches, depots, and terminal facilities of said Chicago and Great Western Railroad, shall be by said company or its assigns, permitted to do so, to the extent of the capacity of said company to furnish railroad terminal facilities, upon fair and equitable terms and regulations; and in the event the companies interested cannot agree upon such terms and regulations, then the same shall be fixedTerms. and determined by three disinterested persons, one of whom shall be selected by said Chicago and Great Western Railroad Company, one by such other company as may desire to use said tracks, switches, and terminal facilities, and the third by the two persons so selected.
If the purchase-price of said land, as agreed upon or finally fixed as herein-before provided, is not paid within ten days after the same shall have been so agreed upon or fixed as aforesaid, this act shall be null and void. Sec. 2. That all costs incurred under the provisions hereof in appraisingCosts. said property, or ascertaining the price to be paid therefor, shall be added to the said price as agreed upon, or as the same may be finally fixed hereunder, and paid by said railroad company.
Sec. 3. That the Secretary of the Treasury shall invest the purchase-moneyProceeds to be invested in purchase of site for public building for customs. of the said lot received by him, or so much thereof as may be necessary, in the purchase or acquisition by condemnation of a site, and in the erection thereon of a suitable and commodious warehouse, for the use of the United States local appraiser of customs, and other Government uses, in the city of Chicago. The site and building thereon, when completed upon plans and specifications to be previously made and approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, shall not exceed in costLimit of cost. the purchase-money received by the Secretary of the Treasury for the lot mentioned in the first section of this act; nor shall any site be purchased until estimates for the erection of a building which will furnish sufficient accommodations for the transaction of the public business, and which shall not exceed in cost the balance of the sum herein limited after the site shall have been purchased and paid for, shall have been approved by the Secretary of the Treasury; and no purchase of site, nor plan for said building, shall be approved by the Secretary of the Treasury involving an expenditure exceeding the said purchase-money received by the Secretary of the Treasury under this act for site and building; and the site purchased shall leave the building unexposed to danger from fire by an open space of at least forty feet, including streets and alleys: *Provided*, That no part of said sum shall be expended until*Proviso*. a valid title to the said site shall be vested in the United Title.States, nor until the State of Illinois shall cede to the United States exclusive jurisdiction over the same during the time the United States shall be or remain the owner thereof, for all purposes except the administration of the criminal laws of said State, and the service of civil process therein.
And the act entitled “An act for the erection of a public building atVol. 23, ch. 332, p. 349, repealed. Chicago, Illinois,” approved March third, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, is hereby repealed. Approved, May 27, 1886.