The Shasta courier., 1869-05-22
Railroad Matters.

" An Act granting lands to aid IN the con-
str~ct,oR Of a railroad and telegraph
tne from the Central Pacific Railroad
IN California, to Portlaud, IN Oregon.
Be it enacted by the Senate aud 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 Cal
ifornia, to protect certain parties in and
to 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 Legisla-
ture of that State shall hereafter designate,
be, and they are hereby, authorized and
empowered to lay out, locate, construct,
finish, and maintain railroad and tele-
graph line between the city of Portland,
in Oregon, and the Central Pacific Rail-
road, in California, in the manner follow
ing, to wit The said California and Ore
gon Railroad Company to construct that
part of the said railroad and telegraph
within the State of California beginning al
some point (to be selected by said company
on the Central Pacific Railroad, in the
Sacramento Valley, in the State of Califor-
MIA, and running thence northerly through
the Sacramento and Shasta valleys to the
northern boundary Of the State of Califor-
MIA and the said Oregon company to con-
struct 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 ue-River
valleys, to the southern boundary of Ore
gon, where the same shall connect with
the part aforesaid to be made by the first
named company: Provided, that the com
pany completing its respective part of the
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 con-
tinue 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, un-
til the said parts shall meet and connect,
and the whole line of said railroad and tele-
graph shall be completed.
"SEc 2. And be 1t 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, arN to secure the safe and speedy
transportation of the mails, troops, NUM-
tions of war; and public stores over the
line Of said railroad, every alternate sec
tion 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 lire; and when any
of said alternate sections, or parts of Sec
tions. shall be found to have been granted,
sold, reserved, occupied by homestead set
tiers, pre-empted, or otherwise disposed Of,
other lands, desie mated as aforesaid, shall
be selected by said companies in lieu there
of, under the direction of the Secretary of
the Interior, in alternate sections, designa-
ted by odd numbers, as aforesaid nearest
to and not more than ten miles beyond the
limits of said firstnamed alternate sections;
and as soon as the said companies, or either
of them, shall file in the office of the Sec
retary 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 here
in 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 giant, shall not be sold for
less than double the minimum price of
public lands when sold: Provided, That
bona fde 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 pro-
uided also, That settlers under the pro-
L
visions 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 re-
served by the United States, anything in
this act to the contrary notwithstanding.
"SEC. 3. And be 1t 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 nec-
essary grounds for stations, buildings, work
shops, depots, machine shops, switches,
side-tracks, turntables, water stations, or
any other structures required In the con-
struction and operating OF said road.
"SEc. 4. And be 1t further enacted,
That whenever the said companies, or
either of them, shall have twenty or more