Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 26.djvu/529

 FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS. Suss. I. Ch. 923. 1890. 475 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 shall submit to the Secretary of War, for his Secretary or warm examination and approval, designs and drawings of the bridges, “*’*"°"°p1“““·°"· piers, and approaches, and a map of the location, `ving, for the space of at least one mile above and one mile below the proposed location, of each bridge the topography of the banks of the rivers, the shorelines at high water and at low water, and the direction and the strength of the currents at all stages, and the soundings, accurately showing the bed of the streams and the location of other bridges, wharves, andings, or ferries, and shall furnish such other information as shall be required for a full and satisfactory understanding of the subglect; and until said plans and locations of the brid es are approved Iy; the Secretary of War the bridges shall not bediuilt; and after suc approval by the Secretary of War the approved plans and designs for the bridges shall not be deviated from or added to, either. cmmge or pim;. during the construction or after the completion of the bridges, until the proposed change shall have been submitted to the Secretary of War and received his approval; and the said bridges shall be at all times so kept and managed as to oder reasonable and proper means for the passage of vessels through or under said bridges, and if said bridges or any one of them be built with draws, said draws shall be D¤¤w¤· opened promptly upon reasonable signal for the passage of boats or Opening or draws. ' other craft, and the said company or corporation shal maintain at its own expense, from sunset until sunrise, such lights or other sig- Lizhtsewnals on said bridges as the Light-House Board shall prescribe; and if at any time the navigation of said river shall in anlv manner be obstructed or im aired by the bridges authorized by t iis act to be tiglbmucted ¤¤*i8¤· constructed the Sbcretary of War s all have authority, and it shall ` be his duty, to require said company to alter and change said bridges Structural charges, at its own expense, in such manner as may be pro(per to secure free °*°· and complete navigation without impediment; an if upon reasonable notice to said com}pany, its successors or assigns, to make such change or alteration, the said company fails to do so, the Secretary of War shall have authority to make the same, at the expense of the owner or owners of said bridges; and in case of any litigation aris- Litigation. ing from any obstruction or alleged obstruction to the free navigation of said rivers, caused or alleged to be caused by said bridges, the 4 case may be brought in the district court of the United States in and for the district in whose jurisdiction any portion of said obstruction or bridge may be; Provided, also, That nothing in this act shall be emo. so construed as to repeal or modify any of the provisions of law now mmm; mw. existing in reference to the protection of the navigation of rivers or to exempt these bridges from the operations of the same. Sec. 3. That any bridges built under this act and subject to its mwmi structures 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 transmission over the same of the mails, the troops and munitions of war of the United States, or passengers or freight than the rate per mile for the transportation over the railroads or public highways leading to said bridges, and they shall enjoy the rights and mvileges of other post-roads of the United States. And equal privi- bpm by telegraph, le es in the use of said bridges shall be granted to all telegrap and ° ·*°°""’““‘“· telephone companies, and the United States shall have the right of way across said bridges and their approaches for postal-telegraph romi-tenegrapn ur oses. P Siic, 4. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this act is hereby Ameuumermem. expressly reserved, and the right to require any changes in said structures or their rem0Val, at H10 GXPBHSG of the owners thereof, Rcm<>v¤.l,c¤=. whenever the Secretary of War shall decide that the public interest requires it, is also expressly reserved.