# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 4/20th Congress/1st Session/Chapter 85

Chap. LXXXV.—An Act to amend and explain an act, entitled “An act confirming an act of the legislature of Virginia, incorporating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, and an act of the state of Maryland, for the same purpose.”
Assent already given by the United States to the charter of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal by an act of Congress, incorporating, and of Maryland, confirming, the same not to be impaired by any change, &c. Act of March 3, 1825, ch. 52.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the assent already given by the United States to the charter of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, by an act of Congress, entitled “An act confirming an act of the legislature of Virginia, entitled an act incorporating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company;” and an act of the state of Maryland confirming the same, shall not be impaired by any change of the route of the said canal, from or above the town of Cumberland, on the river Potomac, ​or the distribution thereof into two or more sections, at any time hereafter, or any change in the dimensions of that part of the present eastern section, extending from Cumberland, or the mouth of Will’s Creek, to the mouth of Savage, at the base of the Alleghany, or any substitution which the interest of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company may, in the opinion of the company, require to be made, of inclined planes, rail-ways, or an artificial road for a continued canal, through the Alleghany mountain, in any route which may be, by the company, finally adopted therefor, between the town of Cumberland and the river Ohio.
To obviate any possible ambiguity, that might arise in the construction of the 2d section of the act of Congress aforesaid, the authority given to the states of Maryland and Virginia, &c. shall be as full &c. Proviso.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That, to obviate any possible ambiguity that might arise in the construction of the second section of the act of Congress aforesaid, the authority, by that act designed to be given to the states of Maryland and Virginia, or to any company incorporated by either or both of those states, to extend a branch from the said canal, or to prolong the same, from the termination thereof, by a continuous canal, within, or through the District of Columbia, towards the territory of either of those states, shall be deemed and taken to be as full and complete in all respects, as the authority granted by that act, to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal company to extend the main stem of the said canal, within the said district; or the authority reserved to the government of the United States to provide for the extension thereof, on either or both sides of the river Potomac, within the District of Columbia: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall impair the restriction in the charter of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, designed to protect the canal from injury, by the prolongation thereof, or by any branch therefrom.
Act of the legislature of Maryland of Dec. 1837, confirmed.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the act of the legislature of Maryland, which passed at their December session, of one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, entitled “An act further to amend the act incorporating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company,” be, and the same is hereby, confirmed, so far as the assent of Congress may be deemed necessary thereto.
Approved, May 23, 1828.