Chapter 587. To authorize the Spokane International Railway Company to construct and maintain bridges across the Pend d’Oreille River and the Kootenai River in the county of Kootenai, State of Idaho
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CHAP. 587.— An Act To authorize the Spokane International Railway Company to construct and maintain bridges across the Pend d’Oreille River and the Kootenai River in the county of Kootenai, State of Idaho. February 18, 1905. [[S. 6951](/us/bill/58/s/6951).] [[Public, No. 80](/us/pl/58/80).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, Pend d’Oreille and Kootenai rivers, Idaho. Spokane International Railway Company may bridge.
Locations. That the Spokane International Railway Company, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Washington, be, and is hereby, authorized and empowered to construct, maintain, and operate one bridge across each of the following-named rivers in the county of Kootenai, State of Idaho: The Pend d Oreille River, at a point between Pend d’Oreille Fake and Seneaguoteen; the Kootenai River, at a point at or near the town of Bonners Ferry; and to lay railroad tracks on the said bridges, and to operate trains thereon as a part of its railroad.
Sec. 2. Lawful structures and post routes. That any bridges built under this Act and subject to its 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 mails, troops, and munitions of war of the United States than the rate per mile paid for transportation of said mails, troops, and munitions of war over public highways Telegraph, etc., rights. leading to said bridges; and equal privileges in the use of said bridges shall be granted to all telegraph and telephone companies; and the United States shall have the right of way across said bridges and their approaches for postal-telegraph purposes.
Sec. 3. Use by other roads. That all railroad companies desiring the use of said bridges shall have and be entitled to equal rights and privileges relative to the passage of railway trains over the same, and over the approaches Compensation. thereto, upon the payment of a reasonable compensation for such use; and in case the owner or owners of said bridges and the several railroad 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 parties.
Sec. 4. Secretary of War to approve plans, etc. That all bridges authorized to be constructed under this Act shall be built under and subject to such regulations for the security of 721 the navigation of said rivers 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 the said plans and locations are approved by the Secretary of War the bridges shall not be commenced or built; and should any changes be Changes. made in the plans of said bridges, or any one of them, during the progress or 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 their entire removal, shall be made promptly by the corporations or persons owning or operating said bridges, at their own expense.
Sec. 5. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Act is hereby Amendment. expressly reserved. Sec. 6. That this Act shall be null and void if actual construction Time of construction. of the bridges herein authorized is not commenced within one year and completed within three years from the date thereof. Approved, February 18, 1905.