Chapter 381. Authorizing the Indiana, Illinois and Iowa Railroad Company to construct and maintain a bridge across Saint Joseph River at or near the city of Saint Joseph, Michigan
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CHAP. 381.— An Act Authorizing the Indiana, Illinois and Iowa Railroad Company to construct and maintain a bridge across Saint Joseph River at or near the city of Saint Joseph, Michigan. February 18, 1901. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa Railroad may bridge St. Joseph River at St. Joseph, Mich. That the Indiana, Illinois and Iowa Railroad Company, a corporation created and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Illinois, be, and is hereby,797 authorized to construct and maintain a railway bridge across Saint Joseph River at a point suitable to the interests of navigation, at or near the city of Saint Joseph, in the State of Michigan.
Sec. 2. That said 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, upon which also no higher charge shall be made for the transmission over the same of the mails, the troops, and munitions of war of the United States than the rate per mile paid for the transportation over the railroad or public highways leading to the said bridge, and shall enjoy the rights and privileges of other post roads in the United States; and equal privileges in the use of said bridge shallPostal telegraph, etc. be granted to all telegraph and telephone companies, and the United States shall have the right of way across said bridge and its approaches for postal telegraph purposes: *Provided*, That the bridge herein*Proviso*.Aids to navigation. authorized to be constructed shall be so kept and managed by the company owning or operating it as to afford proper ways and means for the passage through or under it of vessels, barges, or rafts at all times, both by day and by night; and there shall be displayed on said bridge,Lights. from sunset to sunrise, such lights and signals as the Light-House Board shall prescribe.
Sec. 3. That all railroad companies desiring the use of said bridgeRights of railroads to use. shall have and be entitled to equal rights and privileges relative to the passage of railway trains over the same and the approaches thereto upon payment of a reasonable compensation for such use; or, in case of disagreement, upon such terms and conditions as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of War upon hearing the allegations and proofs of the parties in interest. Sec. 4. That the bridge authorized to be constructed under this ActSecretary of War to approve plans. shall be built and located under and subject 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 company or corporation shall submit to the Secretary of War. for his examination and approval, a design and drawings of said bridge and a map of the location giving for the space of one mile above and one mile below the proposed location of the bridge the topography of the banks of the river, 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: and until the said plans and location of the bridge are approved by the Secretary of War the bridge shall not be built; and should any change be made in the plan of the said bridgeChanges. during the process of construction, such change shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary of War, and said structure shall be changed at the cost and expense of the owners thereof from time to time, as the Secretary of War may direct, so as to preserve the free and convenient navigation of said river.
Sec. 5. 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. 6. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Act is herebyAmendment. expressly reserved. Approved, February 18, 1901.