Chapter 403.
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CHAP. 403.— An act to approve and ratify the construction by the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railroad Company of the bridge over the Red River at Shreveport, Louisiana, and the bridge over the Ouachita River at Monroe. Louisiana. and to authorize said railroad company to maintain said bridges over said waterways, subject to certain stipulations and conditions.March 2, 1889. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Construction of bridges by Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railroad Company across Red River at Shreveport, La., and Ouachita River at Monroe, La., ratified.
That the construction by the Vicksburg. Shreveport and Pacific Railroad Company, a corporation owning and operating a railroad in northern Louisiana from a point on the Mississippi River opposite the city of Vicksburg. Mississippi, to Shreveport, Louisiana, of the bridge over the Red River at Shreveport, Louisiana, and the bridge over the Ouachita River at Monroe, Louisiana, be, and the same hereby is, approved and ratified, subject to the stipulations and conditions hereinafter set forth.
Sec. 2. That said bridges so long as maintained according to theLawful structures and poet-routes. limitations of this act shall be lawful structures, and shall be known and recognized as post-routes, and the same are hereby declared to be post-routes, upon which 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 through passengers or freight passing over the same than the rate per mile paid for their transportation over the railroads leading to said bridges; and the United States shall have the right of way across said bridges for a postalPostal telegraph. telegraph.
Sec. 3. That said bridges shall always be provided with a suitable draw, and shall be maintained by said railroad company, and at itsDraws. expense, so as not to interfere with the navigation of said rivers, and in such way as to render navigation through the same free, easy, and unobstructed. Sec. 4. That said bridges shall be under and subject to such regulations for the security of the navigation of said rivers as the SecretarySecurity of navigation. of War shall prescribe, and the present plan and structure of said bridges shall not be altered or changed except by consent of the Secretary of War, and with his approval of the proposed change or alteration.
Sec. 5. That Congress reserves the right to alter, amend, or repealAmendment, etc. this act at any time; and that if at any time navigation of the said rivers shall in any manner be obstructed or impaired by the said bridges the Secretary of War shall have authority, and it shall be his duty, to require the said railroad company to alter and changeChanges. the said bridges, at its own expense, in such manner as may be proper to secure free and complete navigation without impediment; and if upon reasonable notice to said railroad company to make such change 886 or improvements the said company fails to do so. the Secretary of War shall have authority to make the same at the expense of said Removing obstructions to navigation.company, and all the rights conferred by this act shall be forfeited: and Congress shall have power to do any and all things necessary to secure the free navigation of the rivers; and the said railroad company in owning, operating and maintaining said bridges, shall be subject to the provisions and penalties prescribed in sections nine and ten of an act entitled “An act making Laws. 1st sess. 50th Cong., p. 425.appropriations for the construction, repair, and preservation of certain public works on rivers and harbors, and for other purposes,” which was received by the President of the United States July thirty-first, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, and not having been returned by him to the house of Congress in which it originated within the time prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, became a law without his approval.
Sec. 6. That the draw provided for the said bridges shall be opened Opening draw.promptly, upon reasonable signal, for the passing of boats; and said railroad company shall maintain, at its own expense, from sunset till Lights, etc.sunrise, such lights or other signals on said bridges as the Lighthouse Board shall prescribe. Sec. 7. That all railroad companies desiring the use of said bridgeUse by other companies. 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 payment of a reasonable compensation for such use; and in case the owner or owners of said bridge Compensation.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 Decision by Secretary of War.using said bridge, 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. 8. That on the failure of the said railroad company to obeyLitigation. this act and to conform to the provisions thereof any municipal corporation adjacent to said bridges, or interested in the enforcement of this act, or any other corporation, person, or persons injuriously affected by such failure, may institute suit against said railroad company, by mandamus or other appropriate proceedings, in the circuit court of the United States within the jurisdiction of which said bridges are located, in the name of the United States, upon the relation of the party complaining, to enforce the provisions of this act.
Such suit shall be brought by the United States district attorney for the district within which said bridges are situated, and said court shall have full power by its judgment and decree to compel said railroad company to comply with the provisions of this law. Approved, March 2, 1889.