Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 29.djvu/715

 FIFTY-FOURTH CON GRESS. Sess. II. CHS. 387, 388. 1897. 685 they make on the appropriations arising from the revenues, including drawback certificates, of said District. Approved, March 3, 1897. _CHAP. 38§.—An Act Authorizing the construction of a bridge over the Mississippi M¤¤=b 3. 1897- River to the city of Saint Louis, in the State of Missouri, from some suitable point `_`;" between the north line of Saint Clair County, Illinois, and the southwest line of said county. ‘ Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the consent of Congress S,E'£‘fu§·BI;;’¢;*i¤ Mg is hereby given to the East Saint Louis and Saint Louis Bridge and cémmmou din?:.. Construction Company, of the city of East Saint Louis, of the county of f,'{,,'}}°{,';‘;P‘}§;_’}_§;"j}}_ Saint Clair and State of Illinois, a corporation organized under the laws M¤- ' of the State of Illinois, its assigns, successors, grantees, mortgagces, representatives, and successors in interest, to build, own, operate, and maintain a bridge and approaches thereto, as hereinafter described, across the Mississippi River, from some point suitable to the interests of navigation between the north line of Saint Clair County, Illinois, and the southwest line of said county, to the city of Saint Louis, State of Missouri: Provided, That the plan and location of the said bridge, so {¤>#i·¤¤•- , far as the interests of navigation are concerned, shall be recommended wigiireitzii p°i5T,Z°t: by a board of three United States engineers appointed by the Secretary _ of War and shall be approved by the Secretary of War. And it shall H“"“'g“‘ be the duty of the said board to give a public hearing in the city of Saint Louis to all parties interested in the construction of said bridge or in the navigation of the river whenever the design and drawings of said bridge and maps of location shall have been submitted to the Secretary of War as herein provided. Said board to give reasonable notice of time and place of such hearing and report its recommendations to the Secretary of War as soon thereafter as may be expe- _ dient: Provided also, That said proposed bridge shall not be located ,,§ff““'*°”°“ °“ ‘°°‘ within three-fourths of one mile of any bridge already con tructed across said river. Said bridge shall be constructed for the purpose of ,_rff,=*;"'·>’· °*°·· providing for the passage of wagon, vehicles, street cars, animals, and S ` foot passengers, and shall be constructed of sutheient strength and dimensions to provide for the passage over it of railway passenger and lreight trains and the accommodation of double tracks theretbr, and shall be deemed and taken as a public highway for the purposes _ named only, subject to the provisions hereinafter set forth: Provided, ,,:y§f by '"'°°‘ "‘“‘ That streetrailway companies desiring the use of said bridge shall have and be entitled to equal rights and privileges relative to the passage of cars over the same and over the approaches thereto, and in case the owner or owners of said bridge and the street-railway companies, or any one of them, desiring such use shall fail to agree upon the rules and conditions to which each shall conform in using said bridge, all matters at issue between them shall be decided by the Secretary of War, upon hearing the allegations and proofs of the parties in question. Sec. 2. That any bridge built under this Act and subiect to its lim- mj·,“,f'°f,‘;*,0u§,_§f“°‘“’° itations shall be a lawful structure and shall be recognized and known as a post route, upon which also no charge shall be made for the transmission over the same of the mails, the troops, and the munitions of war of the United States, and it shall enjoy the rights and privileges of other post roads in the United States; and equal privileges in the use of said bridge shall be granted to all telegraph and telephone companies, and the United States shall have the right of way across said P°°*‘* *°*°¤°*Pbbridge and its approaches for postal telegraph1c purposes. Sec. 3. That in case the said bridge shall be built below the bridge C¤¤¤¤·¤¤¤··¤- _ heretofore constructed and known as the Eads Bridge, it shall be built Bm" 1***** B¤•*¤°- with an unbroken and continuous single span, and the lowest part of said span shall not be of less elevation in any case than seventy-tive feet