shall have been first offered at public sale to the highest bidder, at or above the minimum price aforesaid: Provided, That actual bona fide settlers under the pre-emption laws of the United States may, after due proof of settlement, improvement, and occupation, as now provided by law, purchase the same at the price fixed for said lands at the date of such settlement, improvement, and occupation: And provided also, That settlers under the provisions of the homestead act, who make their settlement after the passage of this act, and comply with the terms and requirements of said act, shall be entitled, within the said limits of ten miles, to patents for an amount not exceeding eighty acres each.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the grant of lands hereby made is upon condition that said company, after the construction of its road, shall keep it in repair and use, and that [it will] at all times be in readiness to transport troops, munitions of war, supplies, and public stores upon its road for the Government, when required to do so by any department thereof, at the cost, charge, and expense of said company. And the lands hereby granted, held, and reserved as aforesaid shall inure to the benefit of said company, as follows: When the Governor of the State of Kansas shall certify that any section of ten consecutive miles of said road is completed in a good, substantial, and workmanlike manner as a firstclass railroad, then the said Secretary of the Interior shall issue to the said company patents for so many sections of the land within the limits above named as are coterminous with said completed section hereinbefore granted; and when certificates of the Governor aforesaid shall be presented to said Secretary, of the completion, as aforesaid, of each successive section of ten consecutive miles of said road, the said Secretary shall in like manner issue to said company patents for the land for each of said sections of road as in the first instance, until said road shall be completed : Provided, That if said road is not completed within ten years from the date of the acceptance of the grant herein before made, the lands remaining unpatented shall revert to the United States: And provided further, That the said lands shall not, in any manner, be disposed of or incumbered by said company or its assigns, except as the same are patented under the provisions of this act.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That as soon as said company shall file with the Secretary of the Interior maps of its line, designating the route thereof, it shall be the duty of the said Secretary to withdraw from the market the lands granted by this act, in such manner as may be best calculated to effect the purposes of this act and subserve the public interest.

SEO. 5. And be it further enacted, That the United States mail shall be transported on said road and its extension, under the direction of the Post Office Department, at such price as Congress may by law provide: Provided, That until such price is fixed by law the Postmaster-General shall have power to fix the compensation.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the right of way through the public lands be, and the same is hereby, granted to said Kansas and Neosho Valley Railroad Company, its successors and assigns, for the construction of a railroad as proposed; and the right is hereby given to said corporation to take from the public lands adjacent to the line of said road material for the construction thereof. Said way is granted to said railroad to the extent of one hundred feet in width on each side of said road where it may pass through the public domain; also all necessary ground for station buildings, workshops, depots, machine-shops, switches, sidetracks, turn-tables, and water-stations.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the acceptance of the terms, conditions, and impositions of this act by the said Kansas and Neosho Valley Railroad Company shall be signified in writing, under the corporate seal of the said company, duly executed pursuant to the direction of its board of directors first had and obtained, which acceptance shall be made within one year after the passage of this act, and not afterwards, and shall be deposited with the Secretary of the Interior.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That said Kansas and Neosho Valley Railroad Company, its successors and assigns, is hereby authorized and empowered to extend and construct its railroad from the southern boundary of Kansas south, through the Indian Territory, to Red River, at or near Preston, in the State of Texas, so as to connect with the railway now being constructed from Galveston to a point at or near Preston, in said State; and the right of way through the Indian Territory, wherever such right is now reserved or may hereafter be reserved to the United States by treaty with the Indian tribes, is hereby granted to said company, to the same extent as granted by the sixth section of this act through the public lands; and in all cases where the right of way, as aforesaid, through the Indian lands, shall not be reserved to the Government, the said company shall, before constructing its road, procure the consent of the tribe or tribes interested, which consent, with all its terms and conditions, shall be previously approved and indorsed by the President and filed with the Secretary of the Interior.

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That the same grants of lands through said Indian Territory are hereby made as provided in the first section of this act, whenever the Indian title shall be extinguished by treaty or otherwise, not to exceed the ratio per mile granted in the first section of this act: Provided, That said lands become a part of the public lands of the United States.

SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That said Kansas and Neosho Valley Railroad Company, its successors and assigns, shall have the right to negotiate with, and acquire from any Indian nation or tribe, authorized by the United States to dispose of lands for railroad purposes, and from any other nation or tribe of Indians through whose lands said railroad may pass, subject to the approval of the President of the United States, or from any company or parties incorporated or authorized for such purposes, by such nation or tribe, or which such parties may have acquired under the laws of the United States.

SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That any railroad company chartered under any law of the United States, or of the State of Kansas, which may have been heretofore or shall hereafter be recognized and subsidized by any act of the Congress of the United States, may connect, unite, and consolidate with this railroad company, after the same shall be located to the valley of the Neosho River, upon just, fair, and equitable terms, to be agreed upon between the parties, and shall not be against the public interest or the interest of the United States; nor shall any road authorized to connect as aforesaid charge the road so connecting a greater tariff per mile for freight or passengers than is charged for the same per mile by its own road: And provided further, That should the Leavenworth, Lawrence, and Fort Gibson Railroad Company, or the Union Pacific Railroad Company, southern branch, construct and complete its road to that point on the southern boundary of the State of Kansas where the line of said Kansas and Neosho Valley Railroad shall cross the same, before the said Kansas and Neosho Valley Railroad Company shall have constructed and completed its said road to said point, then and

in that event the company so first reaching in completion the said point on the southern boundary of the State of Kansas shall be authorized, upon obtaining the written approval of the President of the United States, to construct and operate its line of railroad from said point to a point at or near Preston, in the State of Texas, with grants of land according to the provisions of this act, but upon the further special condition, nevertheless, that said railroad company shall have commenced in good faith the construction thereof before the said Kansas and Neosho Valley Railroad Company shall have completed its said railroad to said point: And provided further, That said other railroad company, so having commenced said work in good faith, shall continue to prosecute the same with sufficient energy to insure the completion of the same within a reasonable time, subject to the approval of the President of the United States: And provided further, That the right of way through private property when not otherwise provided for in this act, or by the law of any State through which the road may pass, shall be obtained by said Kansas and Neosho Valley Railroad Company, or either of the other companies named in this act, in accordance with the provisions of section three of 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.

Approved, July 25, 1866.

No. 172 B.-An Act granting lands to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Central Pacific Railroad, in California, to Portland, in Oregon.*

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the "California and Oregon Railroad Company," organized under an act of the State of California, to protect certain parties in and to a railroad survey, "to connect Portland, in Oregon, with Marysville, in California," approved April sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and such company organized under the laws of Oregon as the legislature of said State shall hereafter designate, be, and they are hereby, authorized and empowered to lay out, locate, construct, finish, and maintain a railroad and telegraph line between the city of Portland, in Oregon, and the Central Pacific Railroad, in California, in the manner following, to wit: The said California and Oregon Railroad Company to construct that part of the said railroad and telegraph within the State of California, beginning at some point (to be selected by said company) on the Central Pacific Railroad in the Sacramento valley, in the State of California, and running thence northerly, through the Sacramento and Shasta valleys, to the northern boundary of the State of California; and the said Oregon company to construct that part of the said railroad and telegraph line within the State of Oregon, beginning at the city of Portland, in Oregon, and running thence southerly through the Willamette, Umpqua, and Rogue River valleys to the southern boundary of Oregon, where the same shall connect with the

* Amended, No. 209 B.

part aforesaid to be made by the first-named company: Provided, That the company completing its respective part of the said railroad and telegraph from either of the termini herein named to the line between California and Oregon before the other company shall have likewise arrived at the same line, shall have the right, and the said company is hereby authorized, to continue in constructing the same beyond the line aforesaid, with the consent of the State in which the unfinished part may lie, upon the terms mentioned in this act, until the said parts shall meet and connect, and the whole line of said railroad and telegraph shall be completed.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That there be, and hereby is, granted to the said companies, their successors and assigns, for the purpose of aiding in the construction of said railroad and telegraph line, and to secure the safe and speedy transportation of the mails, troops, munitions of war, and public stores over the line of said railroad, every alternate section of public land, not mineral, designated by odd numbers, to the amount of twenty alternate sections per mile (ten on each side) of said railroad line; and when any of said alternate sections or parts of sections shall be found to have been granted, sold, reserved, occupied by homestead settlers, pre-empted, or otherwise disposed of, other lands, designated as aforesaid, shall be selected by said companies in lieu thereof, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, in alternate sections designated by odd numbers as aforesaid, nearest to and not more than ten miles beyond the limits of said first-named alternate sections; and as soon as the said companies, or either of them, shall file in the office of the Secretary of the Interior a map of the survey of said railroad, or any portion thereof, not less than sixty continuous miles from either terminus, the Secretary of the Interior shall withdraw from sale public lands herein granted on each side of said railroad, so far as located and within the limits before specified. The lands herein granted shall be applied to the building of said road within the States, respectively, wherein they are. situated. And the sections and parts of sections of land which shall remain in the United States within the limits of the aforesaid grant shall not be sold for less than double the minimum price of public lands when sold: Provided, That bona fide and actual settlers under the pre-emption laws of the United States may, after due proof of settlement, improvement, and occupation, as now provided by law, purchase the same at the price fixed for said lands at the date of such settlement, improvement, and occupation: And provided also, That, settlers under the provisions of the homestead act, who comply with the terms and requirements of said act, shall be entitled, within the limits of said grant, to patents for an amount not exceeding eighty acres of the land so reserved by the United States, anything in this act to the contrary notwithstanding.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the right of way through the public lands be, and the same is hereby, granted to said companies for the construction of said railroad and telegraph line; and the right, power, and authority are hereby given to said companies to take from the public lands adjacent to the line of said road, earth, stone, timber, water, and other materials for the construction thereof. Said right of way is granted to said railroad to the extent of one hundred feet in width on each side of said railroad where it may pass over the public lands, including all necessary grounds for stations, buildings, workshops, depots, machineshops, switches, side-tracks, turn-tables, water stations, or any other structures required in the construction and operating of said road.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That whenever the said companies, or either of them, shall have twenty or more consecutive miles of any

portion of said railroad and telegraph line ready for the service contemplated by this act, the President of the United States shall appoint three commissioners, whose compensation shall be paid by said company, to examine the same, and if it shall appear that twenty consecutive miles of railroad and telegraph shall have been completed and equipped in all respects as required by this act, the said commissioners shall so report under oath to the President of the United States, and thereupon patents shall issue to said companies, or either of them, as the case may be, for the lands herein before granted to the extent of and conterminous with the completed section of said railroad and telegraph line as aforesaid; and from time to time, whenever twenty or more consecutive miles of the said road and telegraph shall be completed and equipped as aforesaid, patents shall in like manner issue upon the report of the said commissioners, and so on until the entire railroad and telegraph authorized by this act shall have been constructed, and the patents of the lands herein granted shall have been issued.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the grants aforesaid are made upon the condition that the said companies shall keep said railroad and telegraph in repair and use, and shall at all times transport the mails upon said railroad, and transmit despatches by said telegraph line for the Government of the United States, when required so to do by any department thereof, and that the Government shall at all times have the preference in the use of said railroad and telegraph therefor at fair and reasonable rates of compensation, not to exceed the rates paid by private parties for the same kind of service. And said railroad shall be and remain a public highway for the use of the Government of the United States free of all toll or other charges upon the transportation of the property or troops of the United States; and the same shall be transported over said road at the cost, charge, and expense of the corporations or companies owning or operating the same, when so required by the Government of the United States.

SEO. 6. And be it further enacted, That the said companies shall file their assent to this act in the Department of the Interior within one year after the passage hereof, and shall complete the first section of twenty miles of said railroad and telegraph within two years, and at least twenty miles in each year thereafter, and the whole on or before the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five; and the said railroad shall be of the same gauge as the "Central Pacific Railroad" of California, and be connected therewith.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the said companies named in this act are hereby required to operate and use the portions or parts of said railroad and telegraph mentioned in section one of this act for all purposes of transportation, travel, and communication, so far as the Government and public are concerned, as one connected and continuous line; and in such operation and use to afford and secure to each other equal advantages and facilities as to rates, time, and transportation, without any discrimination whatever, on pain of forfeiting the full amount of damage sustained on account of such discrimination, to be sued for and recovered in any court of the United States, or of any State of competent jurisdiction.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That in case the said companies shall fail to comply with the terms and conditions required, namely, by not filing their assent thereto as provided in section six of this act, or by not completing the same as provided in said section, this act shall be null and void, and all the lands not conveyed by patent to said company or