Chapter 108. to authorize the Homestead and Pittsburg Bridge Company to construct a bridge over the Monongahela River from Pittsburg to Homestead
751 words·~3 min read·
/statutes-at-large/vol-27/chapter-108-1869677·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
CHAP. 108.— An Act to authorize the Homestead and Pittsburg Bridge Company to construct a bridge over the Monongahela River from Pittsburg to Homestead.February 14, 1893. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Homestead and Pittsburg Bridge Company may bridge Monongaheta River at Pittsburg, Pa. That it shall be lawful for the Homestead and Pittsburg Bridge Company, a corporation organized under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to construct and maintain a bridge, and approaches thereto, over the Monongahela River from a point in the city of Pittsburg to a point in the borough of Homestead, in the county of Allegheny.
Sec. 2. That said bridge may be constructed to provide for the passageRailway, wagon, etc., bridge. of railway trains, street cars, wagon roads, and vehicles of all 449 kinds, for the transit of animals, foot passengers, and all kinds of commerce, travel, or communication, and said corporation may charge and receive reasonable tolls therefor, subject to the approval of the SecretaryTolls. of War. Sec. 3. That any bridge built under this act and subject to its limitationsLawful structure and post route. shall be a lawful structure, and shall be recognized and known as a post route, and it shall enjoy the rights and privileges of other post roads in the United States: *Provided*, That the United States may*Proviso*. construct a postal telegraph over said bridge without charge therefor.Postal telegraph.
Sec. 4. That said bridge shall be built and located under and subjectSecretary of War to approve plane etc. to such regulations for the security of navigation of 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 approval, a design and drawings of the said bridge and a map of the proposed location, giving, for the space of one mile above and one mile below the proposed location, the topography of the banks of the river and the shore lines at high and low water, the direction and strength of the current 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 plan and location of said bridge have been approved by the Secretary of War, the bridge shall not be commenced or built.
Sec. 5. That all railroad companies desiring the use of any bridgeUse by railroad companies. constructed under this act 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 reasonable compensation for such use; and in case the owner or owners of saidCompensation. 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 matters at issue between them shall be decided by the Secretary of War upon a hearing of the allegations and proof of the parties.
Sec. 6. That said bridge herein authorized to be constructed shall beAids to navigation. so kept and managed at all times as to afford proper means and ways for the passage of vessels, barges, or rafts, both by day and by night, and there shall be displayed on said bridge by the owners thereof, from sunset to sunrise, such lights or other signals as the Light-HouseLights, etc. Board may prescribe; and such changes shall be made from timeChanges. to time in the structure of said bridge as the Secretary of War may direct, at the expense of said bridge company, in order the more effectually to preserve the free navigation of said river.
Sec. 7. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this act is herebyAmendment, etc. expressly reserved, and the right to require any changes in said structure or its entire removal at the expense of the owners thereof, or the corporation or persons controlling the same, whenever public interest requires it, is also reserved. Sec. 8. That this act shall be null and void if actual construction ofCommencement and completion. the bridge herein authorized be not commenced within one year and completed within three years from the date hereof.
Approved, February 14, 1893.