Right of way. Width. Stati. ns. obtaining a feasible and practicable route in a northwesterly direction to the leased coal veins of said Choctaw Coal and Railway Company in Tobucksey County, Choctaw Nation; with the right to construct, use, and maintain such tracks, turnouts, branches, and sidings and extensions as said company may deem it in their interest to construct along and upon the right of way and depot grounds herein provided for. SEC. 2. That said corporation is authorized to take and use for all purposes of railway, and for no other purpose, a right of way one hundred feet in width through said Indian Territory for said main line and branch of the Choctaw Coal and Railway Company; and to take and use a strip of land two hundred feet in width, with a length of three thousand feet, in addition to right of way, for stations, for every ten miles of road, with the right to use such additional ground where there are heavy cuts or fills as may be necessary for the construction and maintenance of the road-bed, not exceeding one hundred feet in width on each side of said right of way, or as much thereof as may be included in said cut or fill: Provided, That no more than said addition of land shall be taken for any one station: Provided further, That no part of the lands herein authorized to be Lands not to be sold. taken shall be leased or sold by the company, and they shall not be used except in such manner and for such purposes only as shall be necessary for the construction and convenient operation of said railroad, telegraph, and telephone lines; and when any portion thereof shall cease to be so used, such portion shall revert to the nation or tribe of Indians from which the same shall be taken. Provisos. Damages. Appraisement. Referees. SEC. 3. That before said railway shall be constructed through any lands held by individual occupants according to the laws, customs, and usages of any of the Indian nations or tribes through which it may be constructed, full compensation shall be made to such occupants for all property to be taken or damage done by reason of the construction of such railway. In case of failure to make amicable settlement with any occupant such compensation shall be determined by the appraisement of three disinterested referees, to be appointed, one (who shall act as chairman) by the President, one by the chief of the nation to which said occupant belonged, and one by said railway company, who. before entering upon the duties of their appointment, shall take and subscribe, before a district judge, clerk of a district court, or United States commissioner, an oath that they will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of their appointment, which oath, duly certified, shall be returned with their award to, and filed with, the Secretary of the Interior within sixty days from the completion thereof; and a majority of said referees shall be competent to act in case of the Substitution on fail- absence of a member, after due notice. And upon the failure of either party to make such appointment within thirty days after the appointment made by the President, the vacancy shall be filled by the district judge of the court held at Fort Smith, Arkansas, or by the district judge of the northern district of Texas, upon the application of the other party. The chairman of said board shall appoint the time and place for all hearings, within the nation to which said occupant belongs. Each of said referees shall receive for his services the sum of four dollars per day for each day they are engaged in the trial of any case submitted to them under this act, with mileage at five cents per mile. Witnesses shall receive the usual fees allowed by the courts of said nations. Costs, including compensation of the referees, shall be made a part of the award, and be paid by such railroad company. In case the referees can not agree, then any two of them are authorized to make the award. Either party being dissatisfied with the finding of the referees shall have the right, within ninety days after the making of the award and notice of the same, to appeal by original petition to the district court held at Fort Smith, Arkansas, or the district court for the northern district of Texas, ure to appoint. Compensation. Witnesses' fees. Disagreement. Appeal. which court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine the subjectmatter of said petition, according to the laws of the State in which the same shall be heard provided for determining the damage when property is taken for railroad purposes. If upon the hearing of said appeal the judgment of the court shall be for a larger sum than the award of the referees, the costs of said appeal shall be adjudged Costs on appeal. against the railway company. If the judgment of the court shall be for the same sum as the award of the referees, then the costs shall be adjudged against the appellant. If the judgment of the court shall be for a smaller sum than the award of the referees, then the costs shall be adjudged against the party claiming damages. When proceedings have been commenced in court, the railway company double award. shall pay double the amount of the award into court to abide the judgment thereof, and then have the right to enter upon the property sought to be condemned and proceed with the construction of the railroad. Con SEC. 4. That said railway company shall not charge the inhabitants of said Territory a greater rate of freight than the rate authorized by the laws of the State of Arkansas and Texas for services and transportation of the same kind: Provided, That passenger rates on said railway shall not exceed three cents per mile. gress hereby reserves the right to regulate the charges for freight and passengers on said railway and messages on said telegraph and telephone lines, until a State government or governments shall exist in said Territory with the limits of which said railway, or a part thereof, shall be located; and then such State government or governments shall be authorized to fix and regulate the cost of transportation of persons and freights within their respective limits by said railway; but Congress expressly reserves the right to fix and regulate at all times the cost of such transportation by said railway or said company whenever such transportation shall extend from one State into another, or shall extend into more than one State: Provided, however, That the rate of such transportation of passengers, local or interstate, shall not exceed the rate above expressed: And provided further, That said railway company shall carry the mail at such prices as Congress may by law provide; and until such rate is fixed by law the Posmaster-General may fix the rate of compensation. SEC. 5. That said railway company shall pay to the Secretary of the Interior, for the benefit of the particular nations or tribes through whose lands the said railway may be located, the sum of fifty dollars, in addition to compensation provided for in this act, for property taken and damages done to individual occupants by the construction of the railway; for each mile of railway that it may construct in said Territory, said payments to be made in installments of five hundred dollars as each ten miles of road is graded: Provided, That if the general council of either of the nations or tribes through whose lands said railway may be located shall, within four months after the filing of maps of definite location as set forth in section six of this act dissent from the allowance herein before provided for, and shall certify the same to the Secretary of the Interior, then all compensation to be paid to such dissenting nation or tribe under the provisions of this act shall be determined as provided in section three for the determination of the compensation to be paid to the individual occupant of lands, with the right of appeal to the courts upon the same terms, conditions, and requirements as therein provided: Provided further, That the amount awarded or adjudged to be paid by said railway company for said dissenting nation or tribe shall be in lieu of the compensation that said nation or tribe would be entitled to receive under the foregoing provision. Said company shall also pay, so long as said Territory is owned and occupied by the Indians, to the Secretary of the Interior, the sum of fifteen dollars per annum Company may begin on paying into court Apportionment. for each mile of railway it shall construct in the said Territory. The money paid to the Secretary of the Interior under the provisions of this act shall be apportioned by him, in accordance with the laws and treaties now in force, between the United States and said nations and tribes, according to the number of miles of railway that may be constructed by said railway company through their lands: Right tatax reserved. Provided, That Congress shall have the right, so long as said lands are occupied and possessed by said nations and tribes, to impose such additional taxes upon said railroad as it may deem just and proper for their benefit; and any Territory or State hereafter formed, through which said railway shall have been established, may exercise the like power as to such part of said railway as may lie within its limits. Said railway company shall have the right to survey and locate its railway immediately after the passage of this act. Maps to be filed with Secretary of Interior and chief. SEC. 6. That said company shall cause maps showing the route of its located lines through said Territory to be filed in the office of the Secretary of the Interior, and also to be filed in the office of the principal chief of each of the nations or tribes through whose lands said railway may be located; and after the filing of said maps no claim for a subsequent settlement and improvement upon the right of way shown by said maps shall be valid as against said company: Provided, That when a map showing any portion of said railway company's located line is filed as herein provided for, said company Grading to begin shall commence grading said located line within six months thereafter, or such location shall be void; and said location shall be approved by the Secretary of the Interior in sections of twenty-five miles before construction of any such section shall be begun. Proviso. within six months. Employees, allowed to reside on right of way. Jurisdiction of courts. in litigation. One hundred miles to be built in threeyears.. Crossings: Condition of accept ance. Proviso. SEC. 7. That the officers, servants, and employees of said company necessary to the construction and management of said road shall be allowed to reside, while so engaged, upon such right of way, but subject to the provisions of the Indian intercourse laws, and such rules and regulations as may be established by the Secretary of the Interior in accordance with said intercourse laws. SEC. 8. That the United States circuit and district courts for the western district of Arkansas and the northern district of Texas, and such other courts as may be authorized by Congress, shall have, without reference to the amount in controversy, concurrent jurisdiction over all controversies arising between said Choctaw Coal and Railway Company, and the nations and tribes through whose territory said railway shall be constructed. Said courts shall have like jurisdiction, without reference to the amount in controversy, over all controversies arising between the inhabitants of said nations or tribes and said railway company; and the civil jurisdiction of said courts is hereby extended within the limits of said Indian Territory, without distinction as to citizenship of parties, so far as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this act. SEC. 9. That said railway company shall build at least one hundred miles of its railway in said Territory within three years after the passage of this act, and complete the main line of the same within said Territory within one year thereafter, or the rights herein granted shall be forfeited as to that portion not built; that said railroad company shall construct and maintain continually all road and highway crossings and necessary bridges over said railway wherever said roads and highways do now or may hereafter cross said railway's right of way, or may be by the proper authorities laid out across the same. SEC. 10. That the said Choctaw Coal and Railway Company shall accept this right of way upon the express condition, binding upon itself, its successors and assigns, that they will neither aid, advise, nor assist in any effort looking towards the changing or extinguishing the present tenure of the Indians in their land, and will not attempt to secure from the Indian nations any further grant of land, or its occupancy, than is herein before provided: Provided, That any violation of the condition mentioned in this section shall operate as a forfeiture of all the rights and privileges of said railway company under this act. SEC. 11. That all mortgages executed by said railway company conveying any portion of its railroad, with its franchises, that may be constructed in said Indian Territory, shall be recorded in the Department of the Interior, and the record thereof shall be evidence and notice of their execution, and shall convey all rights and property of said company as therein expressed. SEC. 12. That Congress may at any time amend, add to, alter, or repeal this act. Forfeiture. Record of mort gages. Amendments. prior to construction. SEC. 13. That the right of way herein and hereby granted shall right not assignable not be assigned or transferred in any form whatever prior to the construction and completion of the road, except as to mortgages or other liens that may be given or secured thereon to aid in the construction thereof. Approved, February 18, 1888. CHAP. 14.—An act to authorize the construction of a bridge over the Missouri River, at or near the city of Lexington, Missouri. February 18, 1888. Lexington Bridge ington, Mo. Railway, wagon, and Tolls. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Lexing- company may bridge ton Bridge Company, a corporation existing under the laws of the Missouri River at LexState of Missouri, be, and is hereby, authorized to construct, operate, and maintain a bridge over the Missouri River at or near the city of Lexington, in said State of Missouri. Said bridge shall be con- foot bridge. structed to provide for the passage of railway trains, and, at the option of the persons by whom it may be built, may be used for the passage of wagons and vehicles of all kinds, for the transit of animals, and for foot-passengers, for such reasonable rates of toll as may be approved from time to time by the Secretary of War; and in case of any litigation concerning any alleged obstruction to the Litigation. free navigation of said river on account of said bridge, the cause may be tried before the circuit court of the United States in whose jurisdiction any portion of said obstruction or bridge is located. SEC. 2. That any bridge constructed under this act and according to its limitations shall be a lawful structure, and shall be recognized and known as a post-route, upon which also no higher charge shall be made for the transmission over the same of the mails, the troops,. and the munitions of war of the United States than the rate per mile paid for their transportation over the railroads or public highways leading to said bridge; and the United States shall have the right of way for postal-telegraph and telephone purposes across said bridge. Lawful structure and post-route. Postal telegraph. Spans. Provisos. SEC. 3. That if said bridge shall be made with unbroken and continuous spans, it shall not be of less elevation in any case than fifty feet above high water mark as understood at the point of location, to the lowest member of the bridge superstructure, nor shall the spans of said bridge over the main channel of said river be less than three hundred and fifty feet in length, and the piers of said bridge shall be parallel with the current of said river, and the bridge itself at right angles thereto: Provided, That if said bridge be constructed as a draw-bridge, it shall be constructed as a pivot draw-bridge, with a draw over the main channel of the river at an accessible and the best navigable point, and with spans of not less than two hundred feet in length in the clear on each side of the central or pivot pier of the draw; and said spans shall not be less than ten feet above low-water mark, measuring to the lowest member of the bridge superstructure: And provided also, That said draw shall be opened Opening draw. Draw. Lights. Other companies may use. Compensation. Secretary of War to approve location, etc. promptly, upon reasonable signal, except when trains are passing over the said bridge, for the passage of the boats whose construction shall not be such as to admit of their passage under the draw of said bridge when closed; but in no case shall unnecessary delay occur in opening the said draw after the passage of trains; and the said company or corporation shall maintain, at its own expense, from sunset to sunrise, such lights or other signals on said bridge as the Light-House Board shall prescribe. SEC. 4. That all railroad companies desiring the use of said bridge shall have and be entitled to equal rights and privileges relative to the passage of railway trains over the same, and over the approaches thereto, upon payment of a reasonable compensation for such use; and in case the owner or owners of said bridge and the several railroad companies, or any one of them desiring such use, shall fail to agree upon the sum or sums to be paid, and upon 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 a hearing of the allegations and proofs of the parties. SEC. 5. That any bridge authorized to be constructed under this act shall be built and located under 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 or corporation shall submit to the Secretary of War, for his examination and approval, a design and drawings of the bridge, and a map of the location, giving for the space of one mile above and one mile below the proposed location, the topography of the banks of the river, the shore-lines at high and low water, the direction and strength of the currents at all stages, and the soundings, accurately showing the bed of the stream, the location of any other bridge or bridges, and shall furnish such other information as may be required for a full and satisfactory understanding of the subject; and until the said plan and location of the bridge are approved by the Secretary of War the bridge shall not be built; and should any change be made in the plan of said bridge during the progress of construction, such change shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary of War; Commencement and and if said bridge is not commenced within one year and completed within three years from the passage of this act, the rights and privileges hereby granted shall be null and void. completion. Amendment. SEC. 6. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this act is hereby expressly reserved, and the right to require any changes in said structure or its entire removal, at the expense of the owners thereof, whenever Congress shall decide that the public interest requires it, is also expressly reserved. Approved, February 18, 1888. February 18, 1888. Signing patents. CHAP. 15. An act to amend section four thousand eight hundred and eightythree of the Revised Statutes to enable the Assistant Secretary of the Interior to sign patents. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section four R. S.. sec. 4883, P. thousand eight hundred and eighty-three of the Revised Statutes is 945, amended. Assistant Secretaries of Interior may sign patents. hereby amended by inserting after the words "Secretary of the Interior," where they occur therein, the following words: "or under his direction by one of the Assistant Secretaries of the Interior," so that the said section as amended will read as follows: "SECTION 4883. All patents shall be issued in the name of the United States of America, under the seal of the Patent Office, and shall be signed by the Secretary of the Interior or under his direction by one of the Assistant Secretaries of the Interior, and counter-signed by |