Chapter 192. To confer jurisdiction upon the Court of Claims to ascertain the cost to the Southern Pacific Company, a corporation, and the amounts expended by it from December 1, 1906, to November 30, 1907, in closing and controlling the break in the Colorado River, and to render judgment therefor, as herein pro
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CHAP. 192.— An Act To confer jurisdiction upon the Court of Claims to ascertain the cost to the Southern Pacific Company, a corporation, and the amounts expended by it from December 1, 1906, to November 30, 1907, in closing and controlling the break in the Colorado River, and to render judgment therefor, as herein provided. May 26, 1924.[[H. R. 6012](/us/bill/68/hr/6012).][[Public, No. 141](/us/pl/68/141).] Whereas at the request of President Roosevelt, and under the stressSouthern Pacific Company.Preamble. of great emergency, from December 1, 1906, to November 30, 1907, the Southern Pacific Company closed and controlled the break in the Colorado River and thereby prevented the overflow and destruction of one million two hundred and fourteen thousand acres of irrigable land in the Imperial Valley in southern California, and saved to the Government the Laguna Dam and the Yuma reclamation project connected therewith in Arizona, as well as thousands of acres of other Government land along the Colorado River:
Therefore *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, * That the claim of172Colorado River.Claim of Company for expenses closing break, etc., in, referred to Court of Claims. the Southern Pacific Company, a corporation, against the United States for reimbursement and repayment to such company of the cost of said company and the amounts expended by it from December 1, 1906, to November 30, 1907, in closing and controlling the break in the Colorado River, be, and such claim is hereby, referred to the Court of Claims, and full jurisdiction is hereby vested in said court to ascertain the amounts actually expended and the actual costs incurred by the said Southern Pacific Company in closing and controlling said break within said period and to render judgment in favor of said Southern Pacific Company and against the United States of America for such aggregate amounts, less such proportion of such expenditures and costs as would be fair and reasonable to be deducted as said company’s share of such expenditures and costs and the share of any subsidiary corporation of said Southern Pacific Company, because of the amount and probable value of the land and improvements thereon belonging at the time to said company, or any subsidiary corporation of said Southern Pacific Company, and which in the opinion of said court were saved by the closing andJudgment to be rendered for amount found due. controlling of said break, as compared with the amount and probable value of the other land, improvements, and other property belonging at the time to the United States Government and occupants and settlers, and exclusive of railroad holdings, and holdings of any subsidiary corporation of said Southern Pacific Company, which, in the opinion of said court, were also saved by the closing and controlling of saidRight of appeal, etc. break; with the right of appeal to both parties, and no statute ofEvidence admitted. limitations shall apply to the right of recovery by said claimant.
In ascertaining and determining aforesaid costs, expenses, facts, and matters, the court may receive and consider all papers, depositions, records, correspondence, and documents heretofore at any time filed in Congress, or with committees thereof, and in the executive departments of the Government, together with any other evidence offered. Approved, May 26, 1924.