United States Statutes at Large/Volume 4/18th Congress/1st Session/Chapter 165
Chap. CLXV.—An Act to authorize the state of Indiana to open a canal through the public lands, to connect the navigation of the rivers Wabash and the Miami of Lake Erie.
A route for a canal to be surveyed and marked, by which the navigation of the Wabash and Miami of Lake Erie may be connected.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the state of Indiana be, and is hereby, authorized to survey and mark, through the public lands of the United States, the route of a canal, by which to connect the navigation of the rivers Wabash and Miami of Lake Erie; and ninety feet of land, on each side of said canal, shall be reserved from sale on the part of the United States, and the use thereof, be vested in the state aforesaid, for a canal, and for no other purpose whatever.
The reservation and grant to be void, if a canal be not completed in twelve years.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That, if the said state shall not survey, and direct by law said canal to be opened, and furnish the commissioner of the general land office a map thereof, within three years from and after the date of this act; or, if the said canal be not completed, suitable for navigation, within twelve years thereafter; or, if said land, hereby granted, shall ever cease to be used and occupied for the purpose of constructing and keeping in repair a canal, suitable for navigation; the reservation and grant aforesaid shall be void, and of none effect:Proviso. Provided, That nothing in this act contained, or [that] shall be done in pursuance thereof, shall be deemed to imply any obligation on the part of the United States, to appropriate money to defray the expense of surveying or opening said canal:Proviso. And provided, likewise, That the said canal, when completed, shall be, and forever remain, a public highway, for the use of the government of the United States, free from any toll or charge whatever, for any property of the United States, or persons in their service, on public business, passing through the same.
Each section of land through which said canal may pass, to be reserved from future sale.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That every section of land through which said canal route may pass, shall be, and the same is hereby, reserved from future sale, under the direction of the commissioner of the general land office, until hereafter specially directed by law; and the said state is hereby authorized, without waste, to use any materials on the public lands adjacent to said canal, that may be necessary for its construction.
Approved, May 26, 1824.