Chapter 126. authorizing the Quincy Pontoon Bridge Company to construct and maintain a pontoon bridge across the Mississippi River at the city of Quincy, in the State of Illinois
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CHAP. 126.— An Act authorizing the Quincy Pontoon Bridge Company to construct and maintain a pontoon bridge across the Mississippi River at the city of Quincy, in the State of Illinois.June 22, 1892. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Quincy Pontoon Bridge Company may bridge Mississippi River at Quincy, Ill. That it shall be lawful for the Quincy Pontoon Bridge Company, its successors and assigns, to build, construct, and maintain a pontoon wagon and foot bridge across the Mississippi River at a point suitable to the interests of navigation, in or near the corporate limits of the city of Quincy, in Adams County, in the State of Illinois, and extending across said river to the Missouri shore opposite to said city. 58 Sec. 2.
That said bridge shall be constructed with a suitable pontoonDraw. draw giving not less than four hundred feet clear channel way for each navigable channel of the river, and such other openings for the passage of rafts and logs as in the opinion of the Secretary of War may be *Proviso*.necessary: *Provided*, That said draws shall be opened promptly upon Opening draw.reasonable signal to allow the passage of boats. Sec. 3. That said bridge shall be built and located under and subjectSecretary of War to approve plans, etc. to such regulations for the security of the navigation of said river as the Secretary of War shall prescribe; and to secure that object the said parties shall submit to the Secretary of War, for his examination and approval, 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 shore lines at low and high 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 bridge are approved by the Secretary of War the bridge shall Changes.not be commenced or built, and should any changes be made in the plan of said bridge during the progress of construction or after completion, such changes shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary of War;
Aids to navigation.and the said bridges shall be constructed with such aids to the passage of said bridge, in the form of booms, dikes, piers, or other suitable and proper structures for confining the flow of water to a permanent and easily navigated channel, for a distance of not less than one mile above the bridge location, and for the guiding of rafts, steamboats, and other water craft safely through the draw and raft spans, as the Secretary of War shall prescribe and order to be constructed and maintained at the expense of the company owning said bridge; and the said structure shall be at all times so kept and managed as to offer reasonable and proper means for the passage of Vessels through said structure.
Sec. 4. That the said parties shall maintain at their own expense,Lights, etc. from sunset till sunrise, such lights or other signals on said bridge as the Light-House Board shall prescribe. Sec. 5. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this act, or any partAmendment, etc. thereof, at any time, by the Congress of the United States, is hereby expressly reserved; and any change in the construction or any alteration of said bridge that maybe directed at any time by Congress or the Secretary of War, shall be at the expense of the owners of said bridge or the parties operating and controlling the same.
Sec. 6. That if actual construction of the bridge herein authorizedCommencement and completion. shall not be commenced within one year and completed within three years from the date of the approval of this act the rights and privileges hereby granted shall cease and be determined. Approved, June 22, 1892.