United States Statutes at Large/Volume 5/25th Congress/2nd Session/Chapter 150
Chap. CL.—An Act to confirm the act of the Legislative Council of Florida, incorporating the “Florida Peninsula Railroad and Steamboat Company,” and granting the right of way to said company through the public lands, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,Act of the Legislature of Florida, incorporating, &c. confirmed.
Proviso. That the act passed by the Legislative Council of Florida, entitled “An act to incorporate the Florida Peninsula Railroad and Steamboat Company,” approved eighth January, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, be, and the same is hereby, ratified and confirmed: Provided, however, That the said company shall not be deemed to have, nor shall they exercise, banking privileges; nor shall the said act be so construed as to give or grant banking privileges to said company; and in case the said company shall exercise banking privileges, of any description, in any way or manner, then this confirmation or ratification of said act of incorporation shall be void and of no effect.
Right of way through the public lands, granted.
Proviso.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the right of way shall be, and is hereby, granted to said company over and through any of the public lands of the United States over which the said road may pass: Provided, That the said land to be used and occupied by said company for the line or route of such road shall not exceed eighty feet in width.
Right to take from the public lands earth, stone, or wood.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the said company shall have the right to take from the public lands in the vicinity of said road and within twenty rods of the centre thereof, on each side, all such materials of earth, stone, or wood, as may be necessary or convenient for the actual construction of said road or any part thereof; and, during the construction of said road, to occupy said lands to the width aforesaid, so far as may be necessary to the convenient performance of said work: Provided, however,Proviso. That the rights and privileges granted by this section shall be so exercised as to cause as little damage as possible to the public lands adjacent to said road; and proper drains or sluices shall be constructed by the said company so as to prevent the obstruction of any streams or water-courses which may be crossed by said road.
Sites granted for watering places, &c.
Proviso.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That there shall be, and are hereby, granted to the said company all necessary sites for watering-places, depots, and workshops, along the line of road: Provided, That no one depot or watering place shall contain over four square acres, to be laid off in a square form; and not more than one of said squares shall be granted to or taken by said company for each ten miles of said road.
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the said company shall, with Route to be surveyed, &c.as little delay as may be convenient, and at all events within one year from the passage of this act, and at their own expense, cause the route of said road and the sites which they may select for depots, watering-places, or workshops, to be surveyed and designated through said public lands by plain marks and monuments; and copies of the field-notes of the survey, with a map or plat of the said route and of said sites and of the connection of said route with the previous official surveys of the adjacent lands, shall be returned to the office of the Surveyor General of that land district and to the General Land Office at Washington.
If the road shall be abandoned, this act to be void.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That if the said road shall be abandoned or discontinued, or if the route shall cease to be used by said company for the purposes of a railroad, then and in that case this act and the privileges hereby granted shall cease and be void, and the land occupied by said road shall revert to the United States.
Tolls.Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That Congress may at any time, until said Territory shall be admitted as a State, prescribe and regulate the tolls to be received by said company, and after said Territory shall be admitted as a State, the Legislature thereof shall possess the like power, and said act of incorporation is hereby approved, subject to the modifications and conditions aforesaid.
Approved, June 28, 1838.