' 1368 FIFTY-FIFTH COLGRESS. Sess. III. Cris. 451-453. 1899. A¤¤¤¤d¤¤¤¤*· Sec. 6. That the right to alter or amend or repeal this Act is hereby expressly reserved. _ _ c02"'{_;}’_,°,};]°°'“°“° "’“* Sec. 7. That this Act shall be null and void if actual construction of Pthe bridge herein authorized be not commenced within one year and completed within three years from the date hereof Approved, March 3, 1899. Mimi! 3- UW- CHAP. 452.-An Act To authorize the appointment of a clerk of the district courts °—"'""‘“ of the United States within and for the eastern district of Virginia, to validate their acts, and prescribe where the records shall be kept. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Rqiresentatives of the United _ Vitzmie ¤¤¤’¤¤¤¤ States of America in Congress assembled, That within and for the eastern ’°°i°"M'°m°°' district of Virginia, there shall be only one clerk, to be appointed by the judge of the district court, and said clerk may have as many deputies as may be necessary to be appointed as now provided by law. “*},§§°,:f,_“:,“f,¥¥““” Sec. 2. That all acts heretofore performed by the several persons acting as the clerks of said court at its several places of meetin g, and allpayments heretofore made, in pursuance of law or judgments and decrees of said court, or sums due, to any one or all of said clerks are_ hereby validated. B°°°"**· Sec. 3. That the records of said court shall be kept at the respective places of meeting thereof - E“°°** Sec. 4. That this Act shall bein force from and after its passage. , Approved, March 3, 1899. H¤'¤h it IW- CHAP. 453.-—An Act To authorize the Fort Smith and Western Railroad Company ';;""“`" to construct and operate a railway through the Choctaw and Creek nations, in the AIndian Territory, and for other purpoms. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Rqaresentatioes of the United WI}:: °j1'¤*@am‘;“ag States of America in Congress assembled, That the Fort Smith and West- Company gr an te n ern Railroad Company, a corporation created under and by virtue of the §§§_§,‘;€,“§{f,fb{,°,‘;§§ laws of the State of Arkansas, be, and the same is hereby, invested nations. I¤•ii¤¤ Terri- and empowered with the right of locating, constructing, owning, equip- °°”‘ ping, operating, using, and maintaining a railway and telegraph and telephone line through the Choctaw and Creek nations, in the Indian rmum. Territory, beginning at a point to be selected by said company on the western boundary line of the State of Arkansas at or near the city of Fort Smith, in Sebastian County, in said State, and running thence by the most feasible and practicable route in and through that part of the Indian Territory known as the Choctaw Nation in a southwesterly and westerly direction through the counties of Sknllyville, San Bois, Gaines, and Tobucksy, and crossing the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway, in said Choctaw Nation, at or near South Canadian; continuing thence westerly to the South Canadian River; continuing thence northwesterly and through the UIC8K Nation, Indian Territory, to a point on the western boundary thereof near the Sac and Fox Agency, said line forming a continuous line of railway with the lin,e of said railway company which continues westward from said boundary line of the Creek Nation, as above set forth, into and through Oklahoma Territory, to Kingfisher, in said Oklahoma Territory, with a switch or spur line from the nearest feasible point on said line in the Choctaw Nation to a connection with the Saint Louis and San Francisco Railroad, at a point between Cedars Station and Backbone Tunnel, of about eight miles in length, with the right to construct, use, and maintain such tracks, turn-outs, and sidings as said company may deem it to their interest to construct along and upon the right of way and depot grounds herein provided for. The railway so constructed shall be of standard gauge, and the railway shall be built as a standard railway and with rails weighing not less than sixty pounds to the yard.
