Chapter 473. Granting authority to Alafia, Manatee and Gulf Coast Railroad Company to build railroad bridges across the Manatee River and Gasparilia Sound and to lay railroad tracks thereon
712 words·~3 min read·
/statutes-at-large/vol-31/chapter-473-3444526·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
CHAP. 473.— An Act Granting authority to Alafia, Manatee and Gulf Coast Railroad Company to build railroad bridges across the Manatee River and Gasparilia Sound and to lay railroad tracks thereon. February 25, 1901. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, Alafia, Manatee and Gulf Coast Railroad may bridge Manatee River and Gasparilia Sound, Fla. That the Alafia, Manatee and Gulf Coast Railroad Company, a railroad corporation organized under the law of Florida, be, and it hereby is, authorized and empowered to construct, maintain, and operate one bridge across each of the following805 rivers and bodies of water, all in the State of Florida:
The Manatee River from a point at or near Palmetto, in the county of Manatee, to a point at or near Braidentown. in said county, and also over and across Gasparilla Sound from a point on the mainland, in the county of De Soto, to a point near or opposite thereto at or near the head of north end of Gasparilla Island, and to lay railroad tracks on the said bridges to run trains on same. Sec. 2. That any bridges built under this Act and subject to itsLawful structures and post routes. limitations shall be lawful structures and shall be recognized and known as post routes, upon which also no higher charge shall be made for the transportation over the same of the mail, the troops, and munitions of war of the United States than the rate per mile paid for transportation over railroads or public highways leading to the said bridge, and they shall enjoy the same rights and privileges as other post roads in the United States, and equal privileges in the use of saidTelegraph, etc., companies. bridges shall be granted to all telegraph and telephone companies, and the United States shall have the right of way across the said bridges and their approaches for postal-telegraph purposes.
Sec. 3. That all railroad companies desiring the use of said bridgesRight 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 over the approaches thereto, upon the payment of a reasonable compensation for such use; and in case the owner or owners of said bridges and the several rail-road companies, or any of them desiring such use. shall fail to agree upon the sum or sums to be paid and upon the rules and conditions to which each shall conform in using said bridges, all matters at issue between them shall be decided by the Secretary of War upon a hearing of the allegations and proofs of the party.
Sec. 4. That all bridges authorized to be constructed under thisSecretary of War to approve plans, etc. Act shall be built under and subject to such regulations for the security of the navigation of said river and sound 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, maps of location and designs and drawings of each of the bridges; and until plans and locations are approved by the Secretary of War the bridges shall not be commenced or built; and should anyChanges. changes be made in the plans of said bridges or any one of them during the progress of the construction or after completion, such changes shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary of War. and all changes in said bridges, or any one of them, required by the Secretary of War, at any time or until their entire removal, shall be made promptly by the corporations or persons owning or operating said bridges at their expense.
And the said persons or corporations shall maintain onLights. said bridges, from sunset to sunrise, such lights or other signals as the Light-House Board may prescribe. Sec. 5. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Act is herebyAmendment. expressly reserved. Sec. 6. That this Act shall be null and void if actual construction ofCommencement and completion. the bridges herein authorized is not commenced within one year and completed within three years from the date hereof.
Approved, February 25, 1901.