Toll.

Land at mini.

served.

Location of.

ter

to whom granted.

Conditions.

construction of such wagon roads or tramways, together with the right, subject to supervision and at rates to be approved by said Secretary, to levy and collect toll or freight and passenger charges on passengers, animals, freight, or vehicles passing over the same for a period not exceeding twenty years; and said Secretary is also authorized to sell to the owner or owners of any such wagon road or tramway, upon the completion thereof, not to exceed twenty acres of public land at each terminus at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, such lands when located at or near tidewater not to extend more than forty rods in width along the shore line and the title thereto to be upon such expressed conditions as in his judgment may be Minerals re necessary to protect the public interest, and all minerals, including coal, in such right of way or station grounds shall be reserved to the United States: Provided, That such lands may be located concurrently with the line of such road or tramway, and the plat of preliminary survey and the map of definite location shall be filed as in the case of railroads and subject to the same conditions and Rights of way, limitations: Provided further, That such rights of way and privileges shall only be enjoyed by or granted to citizens of the United States or companies or corporations organized under the laws of a State or Territory; and such rights and privileges shall be held subject to the Amendment of. right of Congress to alter, amend, repeal, or grant equal rights to others on contiguous or parallel routes. And no right to construct a wagon road on which toll may be collected shall be granted unless it shall first be made to appear to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Interior that the public convenience requires the construction of such proposed road, and that the expense of making the same available and convenient for public travel will not be less on an average than five hundred dollars per mile: Provided, That if the proposed line of road in any case Location on ex- shall be located over any road or trail in common use for isting road. public travel, the Secretary of the Interior shall decline to grant such right of way, if, in his opinion, the interests of the public would be injuriously affected thereby. Nor of shall any right to collect toll upon any wagon road in said district be granted or inure to any person, corporation, or company until it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of said Secretary that at least an average of five hundred dollars per mile has been actually expended in constructing such road; and all persons are prohibited from collecting or attempting to collect toll over any wagon road in said district, unless such person or the company or person for whom he acts shall at the time and place the collection is made or attempted to be made Only on writ-possess written authority, signed by the Secretary of the Interior, authorizing the collection and specifying the Printed copies rates of toll: Provided, That accurate printed copies of said written authority from the Secretary of the Interior, including toll, freigth, and passenger charges thereby ap

Collection

toll.

ten authority.

to be posted.

proved, shall be kept constantly and conspicuously posted at each station where toll is demanded or collected. And any person, corporation, or company collecting or attempting to collect toll without such written authority from the Secretary of the Interior, or failing to keep the same posted as herein required, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be fined for each offense not less than fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, and in default of payment of such fine and costs of prosecution shall be imprisoned in jail not exceeding ninety days, or until such fine and costs of prosecution shall have been paid.

Priority to ap

plicants for right

noncompletion.

for

That any person, corporation, or company qualified to construct a wagon road or tramway under the provisions of way. of this act that may heretofore have constructed not less than one mile of road, at a cost of not less than five hundred dollars per mile, or one-half mile of tramway at a cost of not less than five hundred dollars, shall have the prior right to apply for such right of way and for lands at stations and terminals and to obtain the same pursuant to the provisions of this act over and along the line hitherto constructed or actually being improved by the applicant, including wharves connected therewith. That, Forfeiture if any party to whom license has been granted to construct such wagon road or tramway shall, for the period of one year, fail, neglect, or refuse to complete the same, the rights herein granted shall be forfeited as to any such uncompleted section of said wagon road or tramway, and thereupon shall revert to the United States without further action or declaration, the notation of such uncompleted section upon the records of the land office shall be canceled, and the reservations of such lands for the purposes of said right of way shall cease and become null and void without further action. And if such road or tramway shall not be kept in good condition for use, the Secretary of the Interior may prohibit the collection of No toll on roads toll thereon pending the making of necessary repairs.

in bad condition.

mortgages.

That all mortgages executed by any company acquir-Recording ing a right of way under this act, upon any portion of its road that may be constructed in said District of Alaska, shall be recorded with the Secretary of the Interior, and the record thereof shall be notice of their execution, and shall be a lien upon all the rights and property of said company as therein expressed, and such mortgage shall also be recorded in the office of the secretary of the District of Alaska and in the office of the secretary of the State or Territory wherein such company is organized: Provided, That all lawful claims of laborers, contractors, ins. subcontractors, or material men, for labor performed or material furnished in the construction of the railroad, tramway, or wagon road shall be a first lien thereon and take precedence of any mortgage or other lien.

SEC. 7. That this act shall not apply to any lands within the limits of any military, park, Indian, or other

of

Mechanics

Government reservations.

Amendment. Transfer of right of way.

Preference priority in vey.

Indications

sur

reservation unless such right of way shall be provided for by act of Congress.

SEC. 8. That Congress hereby reserves the right at any time to alter, amend, or repeal this act or any part thereof; and the right of way herein and hereby authorized shall not be assigned or transferred in any form whatever prior to the construction and completion of at least one-fourth of the proposed mileage of such railroad, wagon road, or tramway, as indicated by the map of definite location, except by mortgages or other liens that may be given or secured thereon to aid in the conto struction thereof: Provided, That where within ninety days after the approval of this act, proof is made to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Interior that actual surveys, evidenced by designated monuments, were made, and the line of a railroad, wagon road, or tramway located thereby, or that actual construction was commenced on the line of any railroad, wagon road, or tramway prior to January twenty-first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, the rights to inure hereunder. shall, if the terms of this act are complied with as to such railroad, wagon road, or tramway, relate back to the date when such survey or construction was commenced; and in all conflicts relative to the right of way or other privilege of this act the person, company, or corporation having been first in time in actual survey or construction, as the case may be, shall be deemed first in right.

of

location on profile map.

SEC. 9. That the map and profile of definite location of such railroad, wagon road, or tramway, to be filed as herein before provided, shall, when the line passes over Surveyed lands. surveyed lands, indicate the location of the road by reference to section or other established survey corners, and where such line passes over unsurveyed lands the location thereon shall be indicated by courses and distances and by references to natural objects and permanent monuments in such manner that the location of the road may be readily determined by reference to descriptions given in connection with said profile map.

Unsurveyed.

au

President thorized to operAlaska.

An Act To authorize the President of the United States to locate, construct, and operate railroads in the Territory of Alaska, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives ate railroads in of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States is hereby empowered, authorized, and directed to adopt and use a name by which to designate the railroad or railroads and properties to be located, owned, acquired, or operated under the authority of this act; to employ such officers, agents, or agencies, in his discretion, as may be necessary to enable him to carry out the purpose of this act; to authorize and require such officers, agents, or agencies to perform any or all of the duties imposed upon him by

Location

and

purpose.

terminals, etc.

the terms of this act; to detail and require any officer or officers in the Engineer Corps in the Army or Navy to perform service under this act; to fix the compensation ot all officers, agents, or employees appointed or designated by him; to designate and cause to be located a route or routes for a line or lines of railroad in the Territory of Alaska not to exceed in the aggregate one thousand miles, to be so located as to connect one or more of the open Pacific Ocean harbors on the southern coast of Alaska with the navigable waters in the interior of Alaska, and with a coal field or fields so as best to aid in the development of the agricultural and mineral or other resources of Alaska, and the settlement of the public lands therein, and so as to provide transportation of coal for the Army and Navy, transportation of troops, arms, munitions of war, the mails, and for other governmental and public uses, and for the transportation of passengers and property; to construct and build a rail- Construction. road or raliroads along such route or routes as he may so designate and locate, with the necessary branch lines, feeders, sidings, switches, and spurs; to purchase or otherwise acquire all real and personal property necessary to carry out the purposes of this act; to exercise the power of eminent domain in acquiring property for such use, which use is hereby declared to be a public use, by condemnation in the courts of Alaska in accordance with the laws now or hereafter in force there; to acquire rights of Rights of way, way, terminal grounds, and all other rights; to purchase or otherwise acquire all necessary equipment for the construction and operation of such railroad or railroads; to build or otherwise acquire docks, wharves, terminal facilities, and all structures needed for the equipment and operation of such railroad or railroads; to fix, change, or modify rates for the transportation of passengers and property, which rates shall be equal and uniform, but no free transportation or passes shall be permitted except that the provisions of the interstate commerce laws relating to the transportation of employees and their families shall be in force as to the lines constructed under this act; to receive compensation for the transportation of passengers and property, and to perform generally all the usual duties of a common carrier by railroad; to make and establish rules and regulations for the control and operation of said railroad or railroads; in his discretion, to lease the said railroad or railroads, or any p portion thereof, including telegraph and telephone lines, after completion under such terms as he may deem proper, but no lease shall be for a longer period than twenty years, or in the event of failure to lease, to operate the same until the further action of Congress: Provided, That if said railroad or railroads, including Subject to intelegraph and telephone lines, are leased under the merce laws if authority herein given, then and in that event they shall leased. be operated under the jurisdiction and control of the isting lines.

22019-16

Transportation rates, etc.

Common rier, duties.

car

Lease after com

terstate

com

Purchase of ex

provisions of the interstate commerce laws; to purchase, condemn, or otherwise acquire upon such terms as he may deem proper any other line or lines of railroad in Alaska which may be necessary to complete the construction of the line or lines of railroad designated or located by him: Provided, That the price to be paid in case of purchase shall in no case exceed the actual physical value of the railroad; to make contracts or agreements with any railroad or steamship company or vessel owner agree- for joint transportation of pasengers or property over ments with other the road or roads herein provided for, and such railroad

Joint

carriers.

Canal machinery,

tion.

or steamship line or by such vessel, and to make such other contracts as may be necessary to carry out any of the purposes of this act; to utilize in carrying on the Use of Panama work herein provided for any and all machinery, equipetc., for construc- ment, instruments, material, and other property of any sort whatsoever used or acquired in connection with the construction of the Panama Canal, so far and as rapidly as the same is no longer needed at Panama, and the Isthmian Canal Commission is hereby authorized to deliver said property to such officers or persons as the President may designate, and to take credit therefor at such percentage of its original cost as the President may approve, but this amount shall not be charged against the fund provided for in this act.

Operation

of

telegraph and telephone lines.

Full powers vested in Presideut.

Town sites thorized.

au

Public lands subject to reser

The authority herein granted shall include the power to construct, maintain, and operate telegraph and telephone lines so far as they may be necessary or convenient in the construction and operation of the railroad or railroads as herein authorized and they shall perform generally all the usual duties of telegraph and telephone lines for hire.

That it is the intent and purpose of Congress through this act to authorize and empower the President of the United States, and he is hereby fully authorized and empowered, through such officers, agents, or agencies as he may appoint or employ, to do all necessary acts and things in addition to those specially authorized in this act to enable him to accomplish the purposes and objects of this act.

The President is hereby authorized to withdraw, locate, and dispose of, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, such area or areas of the public domain along the line or lines of such proposed railroad or railroads for town-site purposes as he may from time to time designate. Terminal and station grounds and rights of way through vations for termi- the lands of the United States in the Territory of Alaska are hereby granted for the construction of railroads, telegraph and telephone lines authorized by this act, and in all patents for lands hereafter taken up, entered or located in the Territory of Alaska there shall be expressed that there is reserved to the United States a right of way for the construction of railroads, telegraph and telephone lines to the extent of one hundred feet on either side of

nals, rights of way, etc.