United States Statutes at Large/Volume 4/21st Congress/2nd Session/Chapter 73
Chap. LXXIII.—An Act to authorize the territory of Florida to open a canal through the public lands between Chipola river and Saint Andrew’s bay, in West Florida.
Canal route granted.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the territory of Florida be, and is hereby, authorized to survey and mark, through the public lands of the United States, the route of a canal, by which to connect the navigation of the river Chipola and Saint Andrew’s bay, in West Florida, and to cut the same through the public lands; and ninety feet of land on each side of said canal shall be reserved from sale on the part of the United States, and the use thereof be for ever vested in the territory, such company as shall be organized by them, for a canal, and for no other purpose whatever.
Condition.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That if the said territory shall not survey, and direct by law, said canal to be opened, and furnish the commissioner of the general land office a map thereof, within two years from and after the date of this act, or if the said canal be not completed suitably for navigation within five years thereafter, or if said land hereby granted shall ever cease to be used and occupied for the purpose of constructing and keeping in repair a canal suitable for navigation, the reservation and grant aforesaid shall be void and of no effect:Proviso. Provided, That nothing in this act contained, or that shall be done in pursuance thereof, shall be deemed to imply any obligation, on the part of the United States, to appropriate money to defray the expense of surveying or opening said canal:Proviso. And provided likewise, That the said canal when completed by said territory, or by an incorporated company under the authority of the same, shall be, and for ever remain, a public highway for the use of the government of the United States, free from any toll or charge whatever, for any property of the United States, or persons in their service on public business passing through the same.
Adjacent lands.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That every section of land through which said canal route may pass, shall be, and the same is hereby, reserved from sale under the direction of the government of the United States, until hereafter specially directed by law; and the said territory, or company incorporated by them, are hereby authorized, without waste, to use any materials on the public lands adjacent to said canal that may be necessary to its construction.
Other canal route granted.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the said territory, or any incorporated company under their authority, be, and they are hereby, authorized to open through the public lands of the United States, a canal from Matanzas to Halifax river, in East Florida, upon the same conditions, restrictions and limitations, in every respect, as are prescribed in the foregoing provisions of this act; and the same lands shall be reserved, in like manner, for the objects specified, and for no other.
Approved, March 2, 1831.