Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 13.djvu/368

 340 THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS. Sess. I. Ch. 198, 199. 1864. R“ll"°’*fl t° l’° act for a grant of lands to the State of Kansas, in alternate sections, apublicmghway to aid in the construction of certain railroads and telegraphs in said state ": Provided, That said railroad shall be a public highway and shall transport troops and munitions of war of the United States free of charge. Route of acer- Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the branch railroad and telgiggiggaoad aud egraph from “Lawrence, by the valley of the Wakarusa River, to a point changed. on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fee railroad, where said road intersects the Neosho River," to aid in the construction of which a grant of lands was made by the said act of third of March, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, shall be so changed as to run from Lawrence to Emporia, P¤>ViS<>· and have and receive the grant of lands made by said act: Provided, That the line of railroad and telegraph from Leavenworth, by way of Lawrence and the Ohio City crossing of the Osage River, to the southern line of the state in the direction of Galveston Bay, shall run via Baldwin city. APPROVED, July 1, 1864. July 1, 1864. CHAP. CXCIX.-An Act to encourage and facilitate Telegraphic Communication be- ···*"""_‘ tween the Eastern and Western Continents. Preamble. WHEREAS the governments of Russia and Great Britain have granted to Perry MacDonough Collins, a citizen of the United States, the right to construct and maintain a line of electric telegraph through their respective territories, from the mouth of the Amoor River, in Asiatic Russia, by way of Behring’s strait and along the Pacific coast to the northern boundary of the United States, with a. view of thereby uniting the telegraphic systems of both continents, and of promoting international and commercial intercourse; and whereas, the government of Russia, in furtherance of that object, is now constructing a line of telegraph through its Asiatic territory to unite at the mouth of the Amoor River with the line projected by said Collins; and whereas the government of the United States desires cordially to cooperate with Russia and Great Britain in the establishment and maintenance of such a line of communication; now, therefore -— Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Clilwy M;¢D· States of America in Omzgress assembled, That Perry MacDonough Col- $,;;*2;;, C?;?' lins, of California, his associates and assignees, shall have the right to cousmic: lines of struct and maintain a line or lines of telegraph from any point or points on L°:3€?£€*€;°Of, the line of the Pacific telegraph, constructed in pursuance of the act of British Am€,ic,,_ congress, approved June sixteen, eighteen hundred and sixty, northerly, 18§0,gh-137- through any of the territories of the United States, to the boundaries of v°"X“‘ P‘ 4L British America, with such branch lines as may be needed to open communication with the various mining districts and other settlements in said l territories. And for the purposes aforesaid, the said Collins, his asso- 0vg}¤‘i)li\*b?£:Y’;g;lS mates and assignees, shall have a permanent right of way over any un- ' appropriated public lands of the United States, together with the right to take any timber and stone for construction purposes; and for the purpose of' establishing and maintaining said lines and the stations necessary for fogzlsfogglauds the repair and working thereon there islhereby granted to said parties the use ot so much unappropriated public lands not sold, granted, reserved, preempted, nor occupied by homestead settlers, as may be necessary for stations, not exceeding forty acres for each fifteen miles of line constructed across the public lands of the United States, so long as the same may be Pl`0Vi¤°· used for said purpose: Provided, however, that so much of section one of ‘ this act as authorizes the construction of telegraph lines to open communications with the various mining districts and other settlements in said territories, shall be null and void, unless said branch-lines shall be completed within five years from the approval hereofi