and authority is hereby given said corporation to construct bridges over said Missouri River, and all other rivers for the convenience of said road: Provided, That any bridge or bridges it may construct over the Missouri River, or any other navigable river on the line of said road, shall be constructed with suitable and proper draws for the passage of steamboats, and shall be built, kept and maintained, at the expense of said company in such manner as not to impair the usefulness of said rivers for navigation to any greater extent than such structures of the most approved character necessarily do: And provided, further, That any company authorized by this act to construct its road and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the initial point aforesaid, may construct its road and telegraph line so as to connect with the Union Pacific Railroad at any point westwardly of such initial point, in case such company shall deem such westward connection more practicable or desirable; and in aid of the construction of so much of its road and telegraph line as shall be a departure from the route herein before provided for its road, such company shall be entitled to all the benefits, and be subject to all the conditions and restrictions, of this act: Provided, further however, That the bonds of the United States shall not be issued to such company for a greater amount than is herein before provided, if the same had united with the Union Pacific Railroad on the 100th degree of longitude; nor shall such company be entitled to receive any greater amount of alternate sections of public lands than are also herein provided.

SEC. 10 And be it further enacted, That section five of said act be so modified and amended that the Union Pacific Railroad Company, the Central Pacific Railroad Company, and any other company authorized to participate in the construction of said road, may, on the completion of each section of said road, as provided in this act and the act to which this act is an amendment, issue their first mortgage bonds on their respective railroad and telegraph lines to an amount not exceeding the amount of the bonds of the United States, and of even tenor and date, time of maturity, rate and character of interest with the bonds authorized to be issued to said railroad companies respectively. And the lien of the United States bonds shall be subordinate to that of the bonds of any or either of said companies hereby authorized to be issued on their respective roads, property, and equipments, except as to the provisions of the sixth section of the act to which this act is an amendment, relating to the transmission of dispatches and the transportation of mails, troops, munitions of war, supplies and public stores for the government of the United States. And said section is further amended by striking out the word "forty," and inserting in lieu thereof the words "on each and every section of not less than twenty."

SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That if any of the railroad companies entitled to bonds of the United States, or to issue their first mortgage bonds herein provided for, has, at the time of the approval of this act, issued, or shall thereafter issue, any of its own bonds or securities in such form or manner as in law or equity to entitle the same to priority or preference of payment to the said guaranteed bonds, or said first mortgage bonds, the amount of such corporate bonds outstanding and unsatisfied, or uncanceled, shall be deducted from the amount of such government and first mortgage bonds which the company may be entitled to receive and issue; and such an amount only of such government bonds and such first mortgage bonds shall be granted or permitted, as added to such outstanding, unsatisfied, or uncanceled bonds of the company shall make up the whole amount per mile to which the company would otherwise have been entitled; And provided further, That, before any bonds shall be so given by the United States, the company claim

ing them shall present to the Secretary of the Treasury an affidavit of the president and secretary of the company, to be sworn to before the judge of a court of record, setting forth whether said company has issued any such bonds or securities, and, if so, particularly describing the same, and such other evidence as the secretary may require, so as to enable him to make the deduction herein required; and such affidavit shall then be filed and deposited in the office of the Secretary of the Interior. And any person swearing falsely to any such affidavit, shall be deemed guilty of perjury, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished as aforesaid; Provided, also, That no land granted by this act shall be conveyed to any party or parties, and no bonds shall be issued to any company or companies, party or parties, on account of any road or part thereof, made prior to the passage of the act to which this act is an amendment, or made subsequent thereto under the provisions of any act or acts other than this act, and the act amended by this act.

SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That the Leavenworth, Pawnee, and Western Railroad Company, now known as the Union Pacific Railroad Company, eastern division, shall build the railroad from the mouth of Kansas River, by the way of Leavenworth, or, if that be not deemed the best route, then the said company shall, within two years, build a railroad from the city of Leavenworth to unite with the main stem at or near the city of Lawrence; but to aid in the construction of said branch the said company shall not be entitled to any bonds. And if the Union Pacific Railroad Company shall not be proceeding in good faith to build the said railroad through the Territories when the Leavenworth, Pawnee, and Western Railroad Company, now known as the Union Pacific Railroad Company, eastern division, shall have completed their road to the hundredth degree of longitude, then the last-named company may proceed to make said road westward until it meets and connects with the Central Pacific Railroad Company on the same line. And the said railroad from the mouth of Kansas River to the one hundredth meridian of longitude shall be made by the way of Lawrence and Topeka, or on the bank of the Kansas River opposite said towns; Provided, That no bonds shall be issued or land certified by the United States to any person or company, for the construction of any part of the main trunk-line of said railroad west of the one hundredth meridian of longitude and east of the Rocky Mountains, until said road shall be completed from or near Omaha, on the Missouri River, to the said one hundredth meridian of longitude.

SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That, at and after the next election of directors, the number of directors to be elected by the stockholders shall be fifteen; and the number of directors to be appointed by the President shall be five; and the President shall appoint three additional directors to serve until the next regular election, and thereafter five directors. At least one of said government directors shall be placed on each of the standing committees of said company, and at least one on every special committee that may be appointed. The government directors shall, from time to time, report to the Secretary of the Interior, in answer to any inquiries he may make of them, touching the condition, management, and progress of the work, and shall communicate to the Secretary of the Interior, at any time, such information as should be in the possession of the department. They shall, as often as may be necessary to a full knowledge of the condition and management of the line, visit all portions of the line of road, whether built or surveyed; and while absent from home, attending to their duties as directors, shall be. paid their actual traveling expenses, and be allowed and paid such reasonable compensation for their time actually employed as the board of directors may decide.

SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That the next election for directors of said railroad shall be held on the first Wednesday of October next, at the office of said company in the city of New York, between the hours of ten o'clock a. m. and four o'clock p. m. of said day; and all subsequent regular elections shall be held annually thereafter at the same place; and the directors shall hold their offices for one year, and until their successors are qualified.

SEC. 15. And be it further enacted, That the several companies authorized to construct the aforesaid roads are hereby required to operate and use said roads and telegraph for all purposes of communication, travel, and transportation, so far as the public and the government are concerned, as one continuous line; and, in such operation and use, to afford and secure to each equal advantages and facilities as to rates, time, and transportation, without any discrimination of any kind in favor of the road or business of any or either of said companies, or adverse to the road or business of any or either of the others, and it shall not be lawful for the proprietors of any line of telegraph, authorized by this act, or the act amended by this act, to refuse, or fail to convey for all persons requiring the transmission of news and messages of like character, on pain of forfeiting to the person injured, for each offense, the sum of one hundred dollars, and such other damage as he may have suffered on account of said refusal or failure, to be sued for and recovered in any court of the United States, or of any State or Territory of competent jurisdiction. SEC. 16. And be it further enacted, That any two or more of the companies authorized to participate in the benefits of this act, are hereby authorized at any time to unite and consolidate their organizations, as the same may or shall be, upon such terms and conditions, and in such manner as they may agree upon, and as shall not be incompatible with this act, or the laws of the State or States in which the roads of such companies may be, and to assume and adopt such corporate name and style as they may agree upon, with a capital stock not to exceed the actual cost of the roads so to be consolidated, and shall file a copy of such consolidation in the department of the Interior; and thereupon such organization, so formed and consolidated, shall succeed to, possess, and be entitled to receive from the government of the United States, all and singular the grants, benefits, immunities, guarantees, acts, and things to be done and performed, and be subject to the same terms, conditions, restrictions, and requirements which said companies respectively, at the time of such consolidation, are or may be entitled or subject to under this act, in place and substitution of said companies so consolidated respectively. And all other provisions of this act, so far as applicable, relating, or in any manner appertaining, to the companies so consolidated, or either thereof, shall apply and be of force as to such consolidated organization. And in case upon the completion by such consolidated organization of of the roads, or either of them, of the companies so consolidated, any other of the road or roads of either of the other companies authorized as aforesaid, (and forming, or intended or necessary to form, a portion of a continuous line from each of the several points on the Missouri River, hereinbefore designated, to the Pacific coast,) shall not have constructed the number of miles of its said road within the time herein required, such consolidated organization is hereby authorized to continue the construction of its road and telegraph in the general direction and route upon which such incomplete or unconstructed road is herein before authorized to be built, until such continuation of the road by such consolidated organization shall reach the constructed road and telegraph of said other company, and at such point to connect and unite therewith; and for and in aid thereof the said consolidated

organization may do and perform, in reference to such portion of road and telegraph as shall so be in continuation of its constructed road and telegraph, and to the construction and equipment thereof, all and singular, the several acts and things herein before provided, authorized, or granted to be done by the company herein before authorized to construct and equip the same, and shall be entitled to similar and like grants, benefits, immunities, guarantees, acts, and things to be done and performed by the government of the United States, by the President United States, by the secretaries of the Treasury and Interior, and by commissioners in reference to such company, and to such portion of the road herein before authorized to be constructed by it, and upon the like and similar terms and conditions, so far as the same are applicable thereto. And said consolidated company shall pay to said defaulting company the value to be estimated by competent engineers of all the work done and material furnished by said defaulting company, which may be adopted and used by said consolidated company in the progress of the work under the provisions of this section; Provided, nevertheless, That said defaulting company may, at any time before receiving pay for its work and material, as hereinbefore provided, on its own election, pay said consolidated company the value of the work done and material furnished by said consolidated company, to be estimated by competent engineers, necessary for, and used in, the construction of the road of said defaulting company, and resume the control of its said road; and all the rights, benefits, and privileges which shall be acquired, possessed, or exercised, pursuant to this section, shall be to that extent an abatement of the rights, benefits, and privileges herein before granted to such other company. And in case any company authorized thereto, shall not enter into such consolidated organization, such company, upon the completion of its road as hereinbefore provided, shall be entitled to, and is hereby authorized to, continue and extend the same under the circumstances, and in accordance with the provisions of this section, and to have all the benefits thereof, as fully and completely as are herein provided, touching such consolidated organization. And in case more than one such consolidated organization shall be made, pursuant to this act, the terms and conditions of this act, herein before recited as to one, shall apply in like manner, force, and effect to the other. Provided, however, That rights and interests at any time acquired by one such consolidated organization, shall not be impaired by another thereof. It is further provided that, should the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California complete their line to the eastern line of the State of California, before the line of the Union Pacific Railroad Company shall have been extended westward so as to meet the line of said first-named company, said first-named company may extend their line of road eastward one hundred and fifty miles on the established route, so as to meet and connect with the line of the Union Pacific road, complying in all respects with the provisions and restrictions of this act as to said Union Pacific road, and upon doing so, shall enjoy all the rights, privileges, and benefits conferred by this act on said Union Pacific Railroad Company.

SEC. 17. And be it further enacted, That so much of section fourteen of said act as relates to a branch from Sioux City be, and the same is hereby amended so as to read as follows: That whenever a line of railroad shall be completed through the States of Iowa, or Minnesota, to Sioux City, such company, now organized or may hereafter be organized under the laws of Iowa, Minnesota, Dakota, or Nebraska, as the President of the United States, by its request, may designate or approve for that purpose, shall construct and operate a line of railroad and telegraph from Sioux City, upon the most direct and practicable route, to such a point on, and so as to connect with,

the Iowa branch of the Union Pacific Railroad from Omaha, or the Union Pacific Railroad, as such company may select, and on the same terms and conditions as are provided in this act and the act to which this is an amendment, for the construction of the said Union Pacific Railroad and telegraph line and branches; and said company shall complete the same at the rate of fifty miles per year; Provided, That said Union Pacific Railroad Company shall be, and is hereby, released from the construction of said branch. And said company constructing said branch shall not be entitled to receive in bonds an amount larger than the said Union Pacific Railroad Company would be entitled to receive if it had constructed the branch under this act and the act to which this is an amendment; but said company shall be entitled to receive alternate sections of land for ten miles in width on each side of the same along the whole length of said branch; And provided, further, That, if a railroad should not be completed to Sioux City, across Iowa or Minnesota, within eighteen months from the date of this act, then said company designated by the President, as aforesaid, may commence, continue, and complete the construction of said branch as contemplated by the provisions of this act: Provided, however, That if the said company so designated by the President as aforesaid shall not complete the said branch from Sioux City to the Pacific Railroad within ten years from the passage of this act, then, and in that case, all of the railroad which shall have been constructed by said company shall be forfeited to, and become the property of, the United States.

SEC. 18. And be it further enacted, That the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company, a corporation organized under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Iowa, be, and hereby is, authorized to extend i[t]s road through the Territory of Nebraska from the point where it strikes the Missouri River, south of the mouth of the Platte River, to some point not further west than the one hundredth meridian of west longitude, so as to connect, by the most practicable route, with the main trunk of the Union Pacific Railroad, or that part of it which runs from Omaha to the said one hundredth meridian of west longitude. And, for the purpose of enableing said Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company to construct that portion of their road herein authorized, the right of way through the public lands is hereby granted to said company for the construction of said road. And the right, power and authority is hereby given to said company to take from the public lands adjacent to the line of said road, earth, stone, timber, and other materials for the construction thereof. Said right of way is granted to said company to the extent of two hundred feet where it may pass over the public lands, including all necessary grounds for stations, buildings, workshops, depots, machine shops, switches, side-tracks, turn-tables, and waterstations. And the United States shall extinguish, as rapidly as may be, consistent with public policy and the welfare of the said Indians, the Indian titles to all lands falling under the operation of this section and required for the said right of way and grant of land herein made.

SEC. 19. And be it further enacted, That for the purpose of aiding in the construction of said road, there be, and hereby is, granted to the said Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company, every alternate section of public land (excepting mineral lands as provided in this act) designated by odd numbers, to the amount of ten alternate sections per mile on each side of said road, on the line thereof, and not sold, reserved or otherwise disposed of by the United States, and to which a pre-emption or homestead claim may not have attached at the time the line of said road is definitely fixed; Porided, That said company shall accept this grant within one year from the passage