Chapter 12. To approve and ratify the construction of a bridge over and across Caddo Lake, at Mooringsport, Louisiana, by the Kansas City, Shreveport and Gulf Railway Company
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CHAP. 12.— An Act To approve and ratify the construction of a bridge over and across Caddo Lake, at Mooringsport, Louisiana, by the Kansas City, Shreveport and Gulf Railway Company. January 13, 1897. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, That the construction by the Bridge across Caddo Lake, Mooringsport, La., by Kansas City, Shreveport and Gulf Railway Company, approved.Kansas City, Shreveport and Gulf Railway Company, a corporation duly organized under the laws of the State of Louisiana, of the bridge over Caddo Lake, at the village of Mooringsport, Louisiana, be, and the same hereby is, approved and ratified, subject to the stipulations and conditions hereinafter set forth.
Lawful structure and post route. Sec. 2. That said bridge, so long as maintained according to the limitations of this Act, shall be a lawful structure, and shall be known and recognized as a post route, and the same is hereby declared to be a post route, upon which no higher charge shall be made for the trans mission 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 bridge, and equal privileges in the use of said bridge shall be granted to all telegraph and telephone companies;
Postal telegraph.and the United States shall have the right of way across said bridge for a postal telegraph. FIFTY-FOURTH CONGRESS. Sess. II. Ch. 12. 1897. 485 Sec. 3. That said bridge shall be under and subject to such regulations Secretary of War to approve changes, etc.for the security of the navigation of said lake as the Secretary of War shall prescribe, and the present plan and structure of said bridge shall not be altered or changed except by consent of the Secretary of War, and with his approval of the proposed change or alteration; and to secure that object the said company or corporation shall submit to the Secretary of War, for file, a design and drawings of said bridge and a map of the location, prepared with reference to a known datum plane, upon prescribed scale, furnished by the engineer officer having supervision of said lake, giving, for the space of one mile above and one mile below the location of the bridge, the topography of the banks of the lake, with 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: *Provided,* That *Provisos.* Expenses of changes.any change or alteration in the said bridge which the Secretary of War may deem necessary in the interest of navigation shall be made by the said railroad company at its own expense: *Provided, also,* That said bridge shall be so kept and managed by the company Aids to navigation.owning or operating it as to afford during the periods at which the lake is navigable proper ways and means for the passage through or under it of vessels, barges, or rafts, both by day and by night; and during the periods at which the lake is navigable there shall be dis played on said bridge from sunset to sunrise such lights and signals Lights, etc.as may be directed by the Light-House Board.
Sec. 4. That all railroad companies desiring the use of said bridge Use 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 Compensation.in case the owner or owners of said bridge 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 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. 5. That Congress reserves the right to alter, amend, or repeal Amendment, etc.this Act at any time. Approved, January 13, 1897.