Chapter 76. for the construction and maintenance of a bridge across the Saint Lawrence River
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CHAP. 76.— An Act for the construction and maintenance of a bridge across the Saint Lawrence River.February 9, 1893. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Saint Lawrence Railway Company may bridge Saint Lawrence River, N, Y. and Canada. That any bridge and its appurtenances which shall be constructed across the Saint Lawrence River from the American frontier, in Saint Lawrence County, in the State of New York, to Canada, by the Saint Lawrence Railway Company, a corporation incorporated under and pursuant to the provisions of an act of the legislature of the State of New York, known as chapter five hundred and thirty-five of the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety, and entitled “An act in relation to railroads, constituting chapter thirty-nine of the general laws,” and approved by the governor June ninth, eighteen hundred and ninety, shall be lawful structuresLawful structure and post route. and shall be so held and taken, and are hereby authorized to be constructed and maintained as provided by the aforesaid act, anything in any law or laws of the United States to the contrary notwithstanding; and such bridge shall be, and is hereby, declared to be an established post road for the United States mails; but this act shall not be construed to authorize the construction of any bridge which shall not permit free navigation of said river to substantially the same extent asFree navigation. would be enjoyed under the provisions of the aforesaid act, heretofore enacted and now in force: *Provided, nevertheless*, That the location of*Provisos*.Location. any bridge, the construction of which is hereby authorized, shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary of War of the United States: *And provided further*, that the consent of the proper authorities of theConsent of Canada.
Dominion of Canada shall have been obtained before any bridge hereby authorized shall be commenced or built. 440 Sec. 2. That the bridge herein named shall be so built that theSpans. lowest part thereof at the spans hereinafter referred to shall not be less that one hundred and fifty feet above high water and located under and subject to such regulations for security of navigation as the Secretary of War of the United States shall prescribe; with a span over the Canadian channel of five hundred feet in length unless the natural channel will admit of a shorter one; but in no case shall abutments or piers be erected to interfere with the navigation of said channel, and a span over the channel on the American side of not less than five hundred feet; and to secure that object the said company or corporation Secretary of War to approve plans, etc.shall submit to the Secretary of War of the United States, 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 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 bridge are approved by the Secretary of War of the United States the bridge shall not be commenced or built; and should any change be made in the plan of said bridge during the progress of construction or after completion such change shall be subject to the Use by railroad companies.approval of the Secretary of War of the United States.
And all railroad companies desiring to use the said bridge shall have, and be entitled to, equal rights and privileges in the passage of the same arid in the use of the machinery and fixtures thereof and all the approaches Terms.thereto under and upon such terms as may be from time to time agreed upon between said railway companies and the owners of said bridge; and in case they shall not agree upon the same, then, and in that case, upon such terms and conditions as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of War of the United States upon hearing the allegations and proofs of the parties.
Sec. 3. That the. said Saint Lawrence Railway Company shall maintain,Lights, etc. at its own expense, such lights and other signals on said bridge as the United States Light-House Board shall prescribe. Sec. 4. 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. Sec. 5. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this act so as toAmendment, etc. prevent or relieve ail material obstructions to the navigation of said river, by the construction of said bridge, is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 9, 1893.