Act of February 28, 1902

32 Stat. L. 43

An Act To grant the right of way through the Oklahoma Territory and the Indian Territory to the Enid and Anadarko Railway Company, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Enid and Anadarko Railway Company, a corporation created under and by virtue of the laws of the Territory of Oklahoma, be, and the same is hereby, invested and empowered with the right of locating, constructing, owning, equipping, operating, using, and maintaining a railway and telegraph and telephone line through the Territory of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory, beginning at a point on its railway between Anadarko and Watonga, in the Territory of Oklahoma, thence in an easterly direction by the most practicable route to a point on the eastern boundary of the Indian Territory near Fort Smith, in the State of Arkansas, together with such branch lines, to be built from any point on the line above described to any other point in the Indian Territory as said railway company may at any time hereafter decide to construct, with the right to construct, use, and maintain such tracks, turn-outs, sidings, and extensions as said company may deem it to its interest to construct along and upon the right of way and depot grounds hereby granted.

SEC. 2. That said corporation is authorized to take and use, for all purposes of a railway and for no other purpose, a right of way one hundred feet in width through said Oklahoma Territory and said Indian Territory, and to take and use a strip of land two hundred feet in width, with a length of two thousand feet, in addition to right of way, for stations for every eight miles of road, with the right to use such additional grounds where there are heavy cuts or fills as may he necessary for the construction and maintenance of the roadbed, not exceeding one hundred feet in width on each side of said right of way, or as much thereof as may he included in said cut or fill:

Provided, That no more than said addition of land shall he taken for any one station:

Provided further, That no part of the lands herein authorized to he taken shall he leased or sold by the company, and they shall not he used except in such manner and for such purposes only as shall he necessary for the construction and convenient operation of said railway, telegraph, and telephone lines, and when any portion thereof shall cease to he so used such portion shall revert to the nation or tribe of Indians from which the same shall have been taken.

SEC. 3. That before said railway shall he constructed through any lands held by individual occupants according to the laws, customs, and usages of any of the Indian nations or tribes through which it may be constructed, full compensation shall be made to such occupants for all property to be taken or damage done by reason of the construction of such railway. In case of failure to make amicable settlement with any occupant, such compensation shall be determined by the appraisement of three disinterested referees, to be appointed, one (who shall act as chairman) by the Secretary of the Interior, one by the chief of the nation to which said occupant belongs, and one by said railway company, who, before entering on the duties of their appointment, shall take and subscribe, before a district judge, clerk of a district court, or United States commissioner, an oath that they will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of their appointment, which oath, duly certified, shall be returned with their award to and filed with the Secretary of the Interior within sixty days from the completion thereof, and a majority of said referees shall be competent to act in case of the absence of a member, after due notice; and upon the failure of either party to make such appointment within thirty days after the appointment made by the Secretary of the Interior the vacancy shall be filled by a judge of the United States court for the Indian Territory, upon the application of the other party. The chairman of said board shall appoint the time and place for all hearings within the nation to which such occupant belongs. Each of said referees shall receive for his services the sum of four dollars per day for each day they are engaged in the trial of any case submitted to them under this act, with mileage at five cents per mile. Witnesses shall receive the usual fees allowed by the courts of said nations. Costs, including compensation of the referees, shall be made a part of the award and be paid by such railway company. In case the referees can not agree, then any two of them are authorized to make the award. Either party being dissatisfied with the finding of the referees shall have the right, within ninety days after the making of the award and notice of the same, to appeal by original petition to the United States court for the Indian Territory, which court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine the subject-matter of said petition, according to the laws of the Territory in which the same shall be heard provided for determining the damage when property is taken for railroad purposes. If upon the hearing of said appeal the judgment of the court shall be for a larger sum than the award of the referees, the cost of said appeal shall be adjudged against the railway company. If the judgment of the court shall be for the same sum as the award of the referees, then the costs shall be adjudged against the appellant. If the judgment of the court shall be for a smaller sum than the award of the referees, then the costs shall be adjudged against the party claiming damages. When proceedings have been commenced in court, the rail way company shall pay double the amount of the award into court to abide the judgment thereof, and then have the right to enter upon the property sought to be condemned and proceed with the construction of the railway.

SEC. 4. That said railway company shall not charge the inhabitants of said Territory a greater rate of freight than the rate authorized by the laws of the Territory of Oklahoma for services or transportation of the same kind: Provided, That passenger rates on said railway shall not exceed three cents per mile. Congress hereby reserves the right to regulate the charges for freight and passengers on said railway and messages on said telegraph and telephone line until a State government or governments shall exist in said Territory within the limits of which said railway, or a part thereof, shall be located; and then such State government or governments shall be authorized to fix and regulate the cost of transportation of persons and freights within their respective limits by said railway; but Congress expressly reserves the right to fix and regulate at all times the cost of such transportation by said railway or said company whenever such transportation shall extend from one State into another or shall extend into more than one State: Provided, however, That the rate of such transportation of passengers, local or interstate, shall not exceed the rate above expressed : And provided further, That said railway company shall carry the mail at such prices as Congress may by law provide, and until such rate is fixed by law the Postmaster-General may fix the rate of compensation.

SEC. 5. That said railway company shall pay to the Secretary of the Interior, for the benefit of the particular nations or tribes through whose lands said main line and branches may be located, the sum of fifty dollars, in addition to compensation provided for in this act, for property taken and damages done to individual occupants by the construction of the railway, for each mile of railway that it may construct in said Territory, said payments to be made in installments of five hundred dollars as each ten miles of road is graded:

Provided, That if the general council of said nations or tribes through whose lands said railway may be located or the principal executive officer of the tribe if the general council be not in session shall, within four months after the filing of maps of definite location, as set forth in section six of this act, dissent from the allowances provided for in this section, and shall certify the same to the Secretary of the Interior, then all compensation to be paid to such dissenting nation or tribe under the provisions of this act shall be determined as provided in section three for the determination of the compensation to be paid to the individual occupant of lands, with the right of appeal to the courts upon the same terms, conditions, and requirements as therein provided:

Provided further, That the amount awarded or adjudged to be paid by said railway company for said dissenting nation or tribe shall be in lieu of the compensation that said nation or tribe would be entitled to receive under the foregoing provisions. Said company shall also pay, so long as said Territory is owned and occupied by the Indians in their tribal relations to the Secretary of the Interior, the sum of fifteen dollars per 5innum for each mile of railway it shall construct in said Territory. The money paid to the Secretary of the Interior under the provisions of this act shall be apportioned by him in accordance with the laws and treaties now in force between the United States and said nations or tribes, according to the number of miles of railway that may be constructed by said railway company through their lands:

Provided, That Congress shall have the right, so long as said lands are occupied and possessed by said nation or tribe, to impose such additional taxes upon said railway as it may deem just and proper for their benefit; and any Territory or State hereafter formed through which said railway shall have been established may exercise the like power as to such part of said railway as may lie within its limits. Said railway company shall have the right to survey and locate its railway immediately after the passage of this act.

SEC. 6. That said company shall cause maps showing the route of its located line through said Territory to be filed in the office of the Secretary of the Interior, and also to be filed in the office of the principal chief of each of the nations or tribes through whose lands said railway may be located, and after the filing of said maps no claim for a subsequent settlement and improvement upon the right of way shown by said maps shall be valid as against said company:

Provided, That when a map showing any portion of said railway company’s located line is filed as herein provided for, said company shall commence grading said located line within six months thereafter, or such location shall be void; and said location shall be approved by the Secretary of the Interior in sections of twenty-five miles before construction of any such section shall be begun.

SEC. 7. That the officers, servants, and employees of said company necessary to the construction and management of said road shall be allowed to reside, while so engaged, upon such right of way, but subject to the provisions of the Indian intercourse laws, and such rules and regulations as may be established by the Secretary of the Interior in accordance with said intercourse laws.

SEC. 8. That the United States court for the Indian Territory and such other courts as may be authorized by Congress shall have, without reference to the amount in controversy, concurrent jurisdiction over all controversies arising between the said Enid and Anadarko Railway Company, and the nation and tribe through whose territory said railway shall be constructed. Said courts shall have like jurisdiction without reference to the amount in controversy over all controversies arising between the inhabitants of said nation or tribe and said railway company; and the civil jurisdiction of said courts is hereby ex tended within the limits of said Indian Territory without distinction as to citizenship of the parties, so far as may he necessary to carry out the provisions of this act.

SEC. 9. That said railway company shall build at least one-tenth of its rail way in said Territory within one year after the passage of this act, and complete its road within three years after the approval of its map of location by the Secretary of the Interior, or the rights herein granted shall he forfeited as to that portion not built ; that said railway company shall construct and maintain continually all road and highway crossings and necessary bridges over said railway wherever said roads and highways do now or may hereafter cross said railway s right of way, or may be by the proper authorities laid out across the same.

SEC. 10. That the said Enid, and Anadarko Railway Company shall accept this right of way upon the express condition, binding upon itself, its successors and assigns, that they will neither aid, advise, nor assist in any effort looking toward the changing or extinguishing the present tenure of the Indians in their land, and will not attempt to secure from the Indian nation any further grant of land or its occupancy than is here in before provided:

Provided, That any violation of the condition mentioned in this section shall operate as a forfeiture of all the rights and privileges of said railway company under this act.

SEC. 11. That all mortgages executed by said railway company conveying any portion of its railway, with its franchise that may be constructed in said Indian Territory, shall be recorded in the Department of the Interior, and the record thereof shall be evidence and notice of their execution and shall convey all rights, franchises, and property of said company as therein expressed.

SEC. 12. That Congress may at any time amend, add to, alter, or repeal this act, and the right of way herein and hereby granted shall not be assigned or transferred in any form whatever prior to the construction and completion of the road except as to mortgages or other liens that may be given or secured thereon to aid in the construction thereof.

SEC. 13. That the right to locate, construct, own, equip, operate, use, and maintain a railway and telegraph and telephone line or lines into, in, or through the Indian Territory, together with the right to take and condemn lands for right of way, depot grounds, terminals, and other railway purposes in or through any lands held by any Indian tribe or nation, person, individual, or municipality in said Territory, or in or through any lands in said Territory which have been or may hereafter be allotted in severalty to any individual Indian or other person under any law or treaty, whether the same have or have not been conveyed to the allottee with full power of alienation, is hereby granted to any railway company organized under the laws of the United States, or of any State or Territory which shall comply with this act.

SEC. 14. That the right of way of any railway company shall not exceed one hundred feet in width, except where there are heavy cuts and fills, when one hundred feet additional may be taken on each side of said right of way; but lands additional and adjacent to said right of way may be taken and condemned by any railway company for station grounds, buildings, depots, side tracks, turn-outs, or other railroad purposes not exceeding two hundred feet in width by a length of two thousand feet. That additional lands not exceeding forty acres at any one place may be taken by any railway company when necessary for yards, roundhouses, turntables, machine shops, water stations, and other railroad purposes. And when necessary for a good and sufficient water supply in the operation of any railroad, any such railway company shall have the right to condemn additional lands for reservoirs for water stations and for such purpose shall have the right to impound surface water or build dams across any creek, draw, canyon, or stream, and shall have the right to connect the same by pipe line with the railroad and take the necessary grounds for such purposes; and any railway company shall have the right to change or straighten its line, reduce its grades or curves, and locate new stations and to take the lands and right of way necessary there for under the provisions of this act.

SEC. 15. That before any railroad shall be constructed or any lands taken or condemned for any of the purposes set forth in the preceding section full compensation for such right of way and all land taken and all damage done or to be done by the construction of the railroad, or the taking of any lands for rail road purposes, shall be made to the individual owner, occupant, or allottee of such lands and to the tribe or nation through or in which the same is situated:

Provided, That correct maps of the said line of railroad, in sections of twenty-five miles each, and of any lands taken under this act, shall be filed in the Department of the Interior, and shall also be filed with the United States Indian agent for Indian Territory and with the principal chief or governor of any tribe or nation through which the lines of railroad may be located or in which said lines are situated.

In case of the failure of any railway company to make amicable settlement with any individual owner, occupant, allottee, tribe, or nation for any right of way or lands or improvements sought to be appropriated or condemned under this act, all compensation and damages to be paid to the dissenting individual owner, occupant, allottee, tribe, or nation by reason of the appropriation and condemnation of said right of way, lands, or improvements shall be determined by the appraisement of three disinterested referees, to be appointed by the judge of the United States court or other court of jurisdiction in the district where said lands are situated, on application of the corporation or other person or party in interest. Such referees, before entering upon the duties of their appointment, shall each take and subscribe, before competent authority, an oath that he will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of his appointment, which oaths, duly certified, shall be returned with the award of the referees to the clerk of the court by which they were appointed. The referees shall also find in their report the names of the person and persons, tribe, or nation to whom the damages are payable and the interest of each person, tribe, or nation in the award of dam ages. Before such referees shall proceed with the assessment of damages for any right of way or other land condemned under this act, twenty days notice of the time when the same shall be condemned shall be given to all persons interested, by publication in some newspaper in general circulation near said property in the district where said right of way or said lands are situated, or by ten days personal notice to each person owning or having any interest in said lands or right of way:

Provided, That such notice to any tribe or nation may be served on the principal chief or governor of the tribe. If the referees can not agree, then any two of them are authorized to and shall make the award. Any party to the proceedings who is dissatisfied with the award of the referees shall have the right, within ten days after the making of the award, to appeal, by original petition, to the United States court or other court of competent jurisdiction sitting at the place nearest and most convenient to the property sought to be taken, where the question of the damages occasioned by the taking of the land in controversy shall be tried de novo, and the judgment rendered by the court shall be final and conclusive, subject, however, to appeal as in other cases.

When the award of damages is filed with the clerk of the court by the referees, the railway company shall deposit the amount of such award with the clerk of the court to abide the judgment thereof, and shall then have the right to enter upon and take possession of the property sought to be condemned:

Provided, That when the said railway company is not satisfied with the award it shall have the right before commencing construction to abandon any portion of said right of way and adopt a new location, subject, however, as to such new location, to all the provisions of this act.

Each of the referees shall receive for his compensation the sum of four dollars per day while actually engaged in the appraisement of the property and the hearing of any matter submitted to them under this act. Witnesses shall receive the fees and mileage allowed by law to the witness[es] in courts of record within the districts where such lands are located. Costs, including compensation of the referees, shall be made part of the award or judgment and be paid by the railway company:

Provided, That if any party or per son other than the railway company shall appeal from any award, and the judgment of the court does not award such appealing party or person more than the referees awarded, all costs occasioned by such appeal shall be paid by such appealing party or person.

SEC. 16. That where a railroad is constructed under the provisions of this act there shall be paid by the railway company to the Secretary of the Interior, for the benefit of the particular tribe or ration through whose lands any such rail road may be constructed, an annual charge of fifteen dollars per mile for each mile of road constructed, the same to be paid so long as said lands shall be owned and occupied by such nation or tribe, which payment shall be in addition to the compensation otherwise provided herein ; and the grants herein are made upon the condition that Congress hereby reserves the right to regulate the charges for freight and passengers on said railways and messages on all telegraph and telephone lines until a State government or governments shall exist in said Territory within the limits of which any railway shall be located, and then such State government or governments shall be authorized to fix and regulate the cost of transportation of persons and freights within their respective limits by such railways. But Congress expressly reserves the right to fix and regulate at all times the cost of such transportation by said railways whenever such transportation shall extend from one State into another, or shall extend into more than one State; and that the railway companies shall carry the mail at such prices as Congress may by law provide ; and until such rate is fixed by law the Postmaster-General may fix the rate of compensation.

SEC. 17. That any railway company authorized to construct, own, or operate a railroad in said Territory desiring to cross or unite its tracks with any other railroad upon the grounds of such other railway company shall, after fifteen days notice in writing to such other railroad company make application in writing to the judge of the United States court for the district in which it is proposed to make such crossing or connection for the appointment of three disinterested referees to determine the necessity, place, manner, and time of such crossing or connection. The provisions of section three of this act with respect to the condemnation of right of way through tribal or individual lands shall, except as in this section otherwise provided, apply to proceedings to acquire the right to cross or connect with another railroad. Upon the hearing of any such application to cross or connect with any other railroad, either party or the referees may call and examine witnesses in regard to the matter, and said referees shall have the same power to administer oaths to witnesses that is now possessed by United States commissioners in said Territory, and said referees shall, after such hearing and a personal examination of the locality where a crossing or connection is desired, determine whether there is a necessity for such crossing or not, and, if so, the place thereof, whether it shall be over or under the existing railroad, or at grade, and in other respects the manner of such crossing, and the terms upon which the same shall be made and maintained:

Provided, That no crossing shall be made through the yards or over the switches or side tracks of any existing railroad if a crossing can be effected at any other place that is practicable.

If either party shall be dissatisfied with the terms of the order made by said referees it may appeal to the United States court of the Indian Territory for the district wherein such crossing or connection is sought to be made, in the same manner as appeals are allowed from a judgment of a United States commissioner to said court, and said appeal and all subsequent proceedings shall only affect the amount of compensation, if any, and other terms of crossing fixed by said referees, but shall not delay the making of said crossing or connection:

Provided, That the corporation desiring such crossing or connection shall deposit with the clerk of the court the amount of compensation, if any is fixed by said referees, and shall execute and file with said clerk a bond as sufficient security to be approved by the court or a judge thereof in vacation, to pay all damages, and comply with all terms that may be adjudged by the court. Any railway company which shall violate or evade any of the provisions of this section shall forfeit for every such offense, to the person, company, or corporation injured thereby, three times the actual damages sustained by the party aggrieved.

SEC. 18. That when in any case two or more railroads crossing each other at a common grade shall, by a system of interlocking or automatic signals, or by any works or fixtures to be erected by them, render it safe for engines and trains to pass over such crossings without stopping, and such interlocking or automatic signals or works or fixtures shall be approved by the Interstate Commerce Commissioners, then in that case it is hereby made lawful for the engines and trains of such railroad or railroads to pass over such crossing with out stopping, any law or the provisions of any law to the contrary not with standing; and when two or more railroads cross each other at a common grade either of such roads may apply to the Interstate Commerce Commissioners for permission to introduce upon both of said railroads some system of interlock ing or automatic signals or works or fixtures, rendering it safe for engines and trains to pass over such crossings without stopping, and it shall be the duty of said Interstate Commerce Commissioners, if the system of works and fixtures which it is proposed to erect by said company are, in the opinion of the Com mission, sufficient and proper, to grant such permission.

SEC. 19. That any railroad company which has obtained permission to introduce a system of interlocking or automatic signals at its crossing at a common grade with any other railroad, as provided in the last section, may, after thirty clays notice, in writing, to such other railroad company, introduce and erect such interlocking or automatic signals or fixtures; and if such railroad company, after such notification, refuses to join with the railroad company giving such notice in the construction of such works or fixtures, it shall he lawful for said company to enter upon the right of way and tracks of such second company, in such manner as to not unnecessarily impede the operations of such road, and erect such works and fixtures, and may recover in any action at law from such second company one-half of the total cost of erecting and maintaining such interlocking or automatic signals or works or fixtures on both of said roads.

SEC. 20. That all mortgages executed by any railroad company conveying any portion of its railway with its franchise that may be constructed in said Indian Territory shall be recorded in the Department of the Interior, and the record thereof shall be evidence and notice of their execution and shall convey all rights, franchises, and property of said company as therein expressed.

SEC. 21. That Congress hereby reserves the right at any time to alter, amend, or repeal this act, or any portion thereof.

SEC. 22. That any railway company which has heretofore acquired or may hereafter acquire under any other act of Congress a railroad right of way in Indian Territory may, in the manner herein prescribed, obtain any or all of the benefits and advantages of this act, and in such event shall become subject to all the requirements and responsibilities imposed by this act upon railroad companies acquiring a right of way hereunder. And where the time for the completion of a railroad in Indian Territory under any act granting a right of way there for has expired or shall hereafter expire in advance of the construction of such railroad, or of any part thereof, the Secretary of the Interior may, upon good cause shown, extend the time for the completion of such railroad, or of any part thereof, for a time not exceeding two years from the date of such extension.

SEC. 23. That an act entitled An act to provide for the acquiring of rights of way by railroad companies through Indian reservations, Indian lands, and Indian allotments, and for other purposes,” approved March second, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, so far as applies to the Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory, and all other acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed:

Provided, That such repeal shall not affect any railroad company whose railroad is now actually being constructed or any rights which have already accrued; but such railroads may be completed and such rights enforced in the manner provided by the laws under which such construction was commenced or under which such rights accrued: And provided further, That the provisions of this act shall apply also to the Osages Reservation, and other Indian reservations and allotted Indian lands in the Territory of Oklahoma, and all judicial proceedings herein authorized may be commenced and prosecuted in the courts of said Oklahoma Territory which may now or hereafter exercise jurisdiction within said reservations or allotted lands.

Approved, February 28, 1902.


Collection:
United States. Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes. Laws, Decisions and Regulations Affecting the work of the Commissioners to Five Civilized Tribes, 1893-1906. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1906.

Search Military Records - Fold3

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Pin It on Pinterest

Scroll to Top