Chapter 357.
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CHAP. 357.— An act to authorize the construction of a bridge for railway purposes across the Mississippi River between the States of Wisconsin and Minnesota, to be located north of and in the vicinity of the city of Alma, Wisconsin.March 2, 1889. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Soo and Southwestern Railway Company may bridge Mississippi River at Alina. Wis. That the Soo and Southwestern Railway Company, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Wisconsin, and its successors and assigns. be, and they are hereby, authorized to construct and maintain railway bridge and approaches thereto across the Mississippi River between the States of Wisconsin and Minnesota from a point just north of the Beef Slough cutoff, in section twenty-one, township number twenty-two north, of range thirteen west, of the fourth principal meridian, above the city of Alma, in the county of Buffalo, Wisconsin, to and upon the west bank of said river, in the county of Wabasha, in the *Proviso*.
Tolls, etcState of Minnesota: *Provided*, That Congress may at any time prescribe such rules and regulations in regard to toll and otherwise as may be deemed reasonable. 789 Sec. 2. That said bridge shall be built with a draw, so as not toDraw. impede the navigation of said river: said draw shall be a pivot-draw, over the channel of said river usually navigated, near the Wisconsin shore, and giving a clear width of waterway of not less than two hundred feet on each side of the central or pivot pier of the draw, and in addition to said draw openings shall have one or more fixed channel-spans,Spans. each having not less than three hundred and fifty feet clear channel-way, and every part of the superstructure of said bridge shall give a clear headroom of not less than ten feet above high-water mark: *Provided*, That all spans shall be so located as to afford the*Provisos*.
Location of spans. greatest possible accommodation to the river traffic, and a draw opening shall, if practicable, be located next or near shore: *Provided, also*, That if the physical characteristics of the locality so require and theSize. interests of navigation be not injured thereby, the lengths of the fixed spans or the number of draw-openings may be reduced: *provided, also*, That for every two adjacent openings of two hundred feet each, one draw opening of three hundred feet may be substituted if the interests of navigation be not injured thereby: *Provided*, That said draw shall always be opened promptly upon reasonable signal, andOpening draw. said corporation shall maintain at its own expense, from sunset to sunrise, such lights or other signals on said bridge as the Light-HouseLights, etc.
Board shall prescribe: *And provided further*, That no bridge shall be built under the provisions of this act except there also be built at theAids to navigation. time of the erection of the piers proper sheer-booms, or other proper-protections, to safely guide boats, vessels, rafts, and other watercraft through said draw-spans and the raft-spans of said bridge. Sec. 3. That any bridge authorized to be constructed under this actSecretary of War to approve plans, etc. shall be built and located under and subject to such regulations for the security of navigation on said river as the Secretary of War shall prescribe; and to secure that object the said corporation shall submit to the Secretary of War, for his examination and approved, a design and drawings of the bridge 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 river, the shorelines at extreme high and low water, the direction and strength of the currents at all stages, and the soundings, accurately showing the bed of the stream, and shall furnish such other information as may be required for a full and satisfactory understanding of the subject: and said bridge shall not be built until the plan and location thereof are approved by the Secretary of War, but when so approved the work on said bridge and the approaches thereto, and the accessory works, may be commenced and prosecuted to completion: *Provided*, That as nearly as practicable*Provisos*. the said bridge shall be at right angles to, and the piers parallel with, the current of said river: *And provided further*, That any changeChanges. in the mode of construction of said bridge shall be first submitted to the said Secretary for his approval, and when approved the said corporation may then proceed with the construction in accordance with said change. *And provided, also*, That if said bridge when constructedNot to obstruct navigation. shall, in the opinion of the Secretary of War, be a substantial obstruction to the navigation of said river, the said Secretary shall require said corporation to change the construction thereof, or to remove the same entirely, so as to avoid any serious and substantial obstruction to the navigation of said river at the expense of the owners of said bridge.
Sec. 4. That the bridge hereby authorized shall be a lawfulLawful structure and post-route. structure, and shall be a post-route upon which no higher charge shall be made for the transportation of the mails of the United States and the troops and munitions of war, or for passengers or freight passing over said bridge, than the rate per mile paid to railroads and transportation companies leading to said bridge. and it shall enjoy the rights and privileges of other post-roads in the United States. 790 Postal telegraph.and the United States shall have the right of way for postal-telegraph purposes across said bridge.
Sec. 5. Use by other companies. That all railroad companies desiring the use of said bridge 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 Terms.such use; and in case the owner or owners of said bridge and the several railroad companies, or any 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 Secretary of War to decide. *Proviso*.matters at issue between them shall be decided by the Secretary of War upon a hearing of the allegations and proofs of the parties: *Provided*, That the provisions of section four, in regard to charges for passengers and freight across said bridge, shall not govern the Secretary of Determining compensation.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. 6. General provisions applicable. Vol. 17, p. 44. That this act shall be subject, except as above mentioned, to the limitations and provisions of an act entitled “An act to authorize the construction of a bridge across the Mississippi River at or near the town of Clinton, in the State of Iowa, and other bridges across said river, and to establish them as post-roads,” approved April first, eighteen hundred and seventy-two. Sec. 7. Amendment, etc. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this act is hereby expressly reserved; and the right to require any change in such 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. 8. Aids to navigation. That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of War, on satisfactory proof that a necessity exists therefor, to require the corporation or persons owning said bridge to cause such aids to the passage of said bridge to be constructed, placed, and maintained at their own cost and expense in the form of booms, dikes, piers, or other suitable or 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 corporation or persons To be established by Secretary of War on failure.aforesaid to make and establish such additional structures within a reasonable time, the said Secretary shall proceed to cause the same to lie 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 Suits for costs.States, proceedings in any of the circuit courts of the United States, within the jurisdiction of which such bridge, or any part thereof is or may be 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.
Sec. 9. Commencement and completion. That this act shall be null and void, if actual construction of the bridge herein authorized be not commenced within two years, and completed within four years, from the date thereof. Approved, March 2, 1889.