render statement on oath. said railroad and telegraph line are completed, upon certificate of said commissioners. Any vacancies occurring in said board of commissioners by death, resignation, or otherwise, shall be filled by the President of the Company to United States: Provided, however, That no such commissioners shall be appointed by the President of the United States unless there shall be presented to him a statement, verified on oath by the president of said company, that such forty miles have been completed, in che manner required by this Act, and setting forth with certainty the points where such forty miles begin and where the same end; which oath shall be taken before a judge of a court of record. Company to file assent. road. to be designated in two years. * SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That said company shall file their assent to this Act, under the seal of said company, in the Department of the Interior, within one To complete year after the passage of this Act, and shall complete said railroad and telegraph from the point of beginning as herein provided, to the western boundary of Nevada Territory before the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four: Provided, That within two years after the passage of this Act said company shall General route designate the general route of said road, as near as may be, and shall file a map of the same in the Department of Map to be the Interior, whereupon the Secretary of the Interior shall cause the lands within fifteen miles of said designated route or routes to be withdrawn from preemption, private entry, and sale; and when any portion of said route shall be finally located, the Secretary of the Interior shall cause the said lands hereinbefore granted to be surveyed and set off as fast as may be necessary for the purposes Point of June- herein named: Provided, That in fixing the point of connection of the main trunk with the eastern connections, it shall be fixed at the most practicable point for the construction of the Iowa and Missouri branches, as hereinafter provided. filed. tion. Central Pacific Railroad Com struct railroad line. SEC. 9. * The Central Pacific Railroad Company may con- pany of California, a corporation existing under the laws and telegraph of the State of California, are hereby authorized to construct a railroad and telegraph line from the Pacific coast, at or near San Francisco, or the navigable waters of the Sacramento River, to the eastern boundary of California, upon the same terms and conditions, in all respects, as are contained in this Act for the construction of said railroad and telegraph line first mentioned, and to meet and connect with the first mentioned railroad and telegraph line. Companies to n the eastern boundary of California. Each of said file acceptance of this act. companies shall file their acceptance of the conditions of this Act in the Department of the Interior within six months after the passage of this Act. Sec. 10. may continue and in case said first-named com- Central Pacific pany shall complete their line to the eastern boundary of construction. California before it is completed across said State by the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California, said first-named company is hereby authorized to continue in constructing the same through California, with the consent of said State, upon the terms mentioned in this Act, until said roads shall meet and connect, and the whole line of said railroad and telegraph is completed; and the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California, after completing its road across said State, is authorized to continue the construction of said railroad and telegraph through the Territories of the United States to the Missouri River, including the branch roads. specified in this Act, upon the routes hereinbefore and hereinafter indicated, on the terms and conditions provided in this Act in relation to the said Union Pacific Railroad Company, until said roads shall meet and connect, and the whole line of said railroad and branches and telegraph is completed. An Act To amend an Act entitled "An Act to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, and to secure to the Government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes," approved July first, eighteen hundred and sixty-two. * Amendments of Mineral land not to include SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That section three act of July 1, of said Act be hereby amended by striking out the word 1862. "five," where the same ocurs in said section, and by inserting in lieu thereof the word "ten; " and by striking out the word "ten," where the same occurs in said section, and by inserting in lieu thereof the word "twenty." And section seven of said Act is hereby amended by striking out the word "fifteen," where the same ocurs in said section, and inserting in lieu thereof the word "twenty-five." And the term "mineral land," wherever the same ocurs in this Act, and the Act to which this is coal and iron. an amendment, shall not be construed to include coal and iron land. And any lands granted by this Act, or the Act to which this is an amendment, shall not defeat or impair any preemption, homestead, swamp land, or Preemption, other lawful claim, nor include any government reser- rights vation or mineral lands, or the improvements of any fected. bona fide settler, or any lands returned and denominated as mineral lands, and the timber necessary to support his said improvements as a miner, or agriculturist, to be ascertained under such rules as have been or may be established by the commissioner of the gen 2.Also see subtitle "Settlers, adjustments, and forfeitures." homestead, etc., not af emption. l'imber. eral land-office, in eonformity with the provisions of the Limit to ex- preemption laws: Provided, That the quantity thus exempted by the operation of this Act, and the Act to which this Act is an amendment, shall not exceed one hundred and sixty acres for each settler who claims as an agriculturist, and such quantity for each settler who claims as a miner, as the said commissioner may establish by general regulation: Provided, also, That the phrase "but where the same shall contain timber, the timber thereon is hereby granted to said company," in the proviso to said section three, shall not apply to the timber growing or being on any land farther than ten miles from the centre line of any one of said roads or Lands granted branches mentioned in said Act, or in this Act. And included herein. all lands shall be excluded from the operation of this Act, and of the Act to which this Act is an amendment, which were located, or selected to be located, under the provisions of an Act entitled "an Act donating lands to the several states and territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts," approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixtytwo, and notice thereof given at the proper land-office. to colleges not Railroad Co. way legalized, * Approved, July 2, 1864 (13 Stat. 356). An Act Legalizing certain conveyances heretofore made by the Union Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress asUnion Paci sembled, That all conveyances or agreements heretofore Conveyances of made by the Union Pacific Railroad Company, or the land on right of Union Pacific Railway Company, or Union Pacific Railroad Company, or the Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western Railroad Company, or the Union Pacific Railway Company, Eastern Division, or the Kansas Pacific Railway Company, or the successors or assigns of any of them, of or concerning land forming a part of the right of way of the Union Pacific Railroad Company granted by the Government by the Act of Congress of July first, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled "An Act to aid the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean and to secure to the Government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes "; and also all conveyances or agreements heretofore made by the Union Pacific Railroad Company, or the Union Pacific Railway Company, or the Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company, or the successors or assigns of any of them, of or concerning land forming a part of the right of way between Denver, Colorado, and Cheyenne, Wyoming, of any of said companies granted by or held under any Act of Congress, and all conveyances or agreements confining the limits of said right of way, or restricting the same, are hereby legalized, validated, and confirmed to the extent that the same would have been legal or valid if the land involved therein had been held by the corporation making such conveyance or agreement under absolute or fee-simple title. verse claimants. That in all instances in which title or ownership of eight of adany part of said right of way heretofore mentioned is claimed as against said corporation, or either of them, or the successors or assigns of any of them, by or through adverse possession of the character and duration prescribed by the laws of the State in which the land is situated, such adverse possession shall have the same effect as though the land embraced within the lines of said right of way had been granted by the United States absolutely or in fee instead of being granted as a right of way. Abandoned SEC. 2. That any part of the right of way heretofore lands granted to mentioned which has been, under the law applicable to abutting owners. that subject, abandoned as a right of way is hereby granted to the owner of the land abutting thereon. Rights of way SEC. 3. That nothing hereinbefore contained shall have on main track the effect to diminish said right of way to a less width not diminished. than fifty feet on each side of the center of the main track of the railroad as now established and maintained: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be taken tion of or construed to be a recognition of any right in the Union Pacific Railway Company as successor in interest to the Union Pacific Railroad Company. Approved, June 24, 1912 (37 Stat. 138). An Act Authorizing the Union Pacific Railroad Company, or its successors, to convey for public-road purposes, certain parts of its right of way. No recogni. sion. succes Union Pacific Railroad Co. public roads Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Union Pacific Railroad Company, or any of its successors or assigns, is hereby authorized to May convey for convey to any State, county, or municipality any portion parts of right of of its right of way, to be used as a public highway or way. street: Provided, That no such conveyance shall have Width of track the effect to diminish the right of way of said railroad company to a less width than fifty feet on each side of the center of the main track of the railroad as now established and maintained. Received by the President, October 10, 1919 (41 Stat. 304). [NOTE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE.-The foregoing act having been presented to the President of the United States for his approval, and not having been returned by him to the House of Congress in which it originated. within the time prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, has become a law without his approval.] retained. Northern l'acific Railroad Cc. (Inc.). railroad and tele graph line. GRANTS TO NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD. An Act Granting lands to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from Lake Superior to Puget's Sound, on the Pacific coast, by the northern route. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That [certain persons mentioned] are hereby created and erected into a body corporate and politic, in deed and in law, by the name, style, and title of the "Northern Pacific Railroad Company," ** And May lay out said corporation is hereby authorized and empowered to lay out, locate, construct, furnish, maintain, and enjoy a continuous railroad and telegraph line, with the appurtenances, namely, beginning at a point on Lake Superior, in the State of Minnesota or Wisconsin; thence westerly by the most eligible railroad route, as shall be determined by said company, within the territory of the United States, on a line north of the forty-fifth degree of latitude to some point on Puget's Sound, with a branch, via the valley of the Columbia River, to a point at or near Portland, in the State of Oregon, leaving the main trunk-line at the most suitable place, not more than three hundred miles from its western terminus; and is hereby vested with all the powers, privileges, and immunities necessary to carry into effect the purposes of this Act as herein set forth. Materials construction. * Right of way. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the right of way through the public lands be, and the same is hereby, granted to said "Northern Pacific Railroad Company, its successors and assigns, for the construction of a railroad and telegraph as proposed; and the right, power, and authority is hereby given to said corporation to take from the public lands, adjacent to the line of said road, for material of earth, stone, timber, and so forth, for the construction thereof. Said way is granted to said railroad to the extent of two hundred feet in width on each side of said railroad where it may pass through the public domain, including all necessary ground for station buildings, workshops, depots, machine shops, switches, side tracks, turn-tables, and water-stations; and the right of way shall be exempt from taxation within the territories of the United States. The United States shall extinguish, as rapidly as may be consistent with public policy Indian titles to and the welfare of the said Indians, the Indian titles to all lands falling under the operation of this Act, and acquired in the donation to the (road) named in this bill. be extinguished. Grant of publiq lands. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That there be, and hereby is, granted to the "Northern Pacific Railroad Company," its successors and assigns, for the purpose of aiding in the construction of said railroad and telegraph line to the Pacific coast, and to secure the safe and speedy |