Chapter 21.
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/statutes-at-large/vol-25/chapter-21-2600343·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
CHAP. 21.— An act to authorize the Cairo and Tennessee River Railroad Company to construct bridges across the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers.January 8, 1889. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Cairo and Tennessee River Railroad Company may bridge Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. That the Cairo and Tennessee River Railroad Company, organized under act of the general assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, be, and is hereby, authorized to construct and maintain bridges, and approaches thereto, over the Tennessee River at any point below Aurora, south boundary of Calloway County, in the State of Kentucky, and the Cumberland River at any point in Trigg County, State of Kentucky, and at any point in Monroe or Cumberland Counties, Kentucky, or in Clay-County, Tennessee, on said river.
Said bridges shall be constructed Railway, wagon, and foot bridges.to provide for the passage of railway trains, and, at the option of the corporation by which they may be built, may be used for the passage of wagons and vehicles of all kinds, for the transit of animals, and for foot-passengers. Sec. 2. To be lawful structures anti post-routes. That any bridge built under this act and subject to its limitations shall be a lawful structure, and shall be recognized and known Manuscripts, etc., to be deposited in Smithsonian institution. 641 as a post-route, and it shall enjoy the rights and privileges of other post-roads in the United States, and equal privileges in the use of said bridges shall be granted to all telegraph companies; and the United States shall have the right of way over said bridges for postal-telegraphPostal telegraph. purposes.
Sec. 3. That all railroad companies desiring the use of said bridgesUse by other roads. shall Have and be entitled to equal rights and privileges relative to the passage of railway trains over the same, and over the approaches thereto, upon the payment of a reasonable compensation for such use; and in case the owner or owners of said bridges and the several railroad companies, or any of them, desiring such use, shall fail toCompensation. agree upon the sum or sums to be paid, and upon miles and conditions to which each shall conform in using said bridges, all matters at issue between them shall be decided by the Secretary of War upon a hearing of the allegations and proofs of the parties.
Sec. 4. That any bridges authorized to be constructed under thisSecretary of War to approve plans, etc. act shall be built and located under and subject to such regulations for the security of navigation of said rivers as the Secretary of War shall prescribe; and to secure that object the said company or corporation shall submit to the Secretary of War, for his examination and approval, a design and drawings of the bridges, and a map of the location, giving, for the space of one mile above and one mile below the proposed location, the topography of the banks of the rivers, the shorelines at 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 bridges are approved by the Secretary of War the bridges shall not be commenced or built, and should any change be made in the plan of said bridges during the progress of construction such changes shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary of War.
Sec. 5. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this act is herebyAmendment. expressly reserved. Sec. 6. That this act shall be null and void if actual constructionCommencement and completion. of the bridges herein authorized be not commenced within two years and completed within three years from the date thereof. Approved, January 8, 1889.