Proviso.

-permits for temporary use.

Obstructions by anchoring vessels.

sels, timber, etc.

of sunken vessel.

under the control of the United States, in whole or in part, for the preservation and improvement of any of its navi gable waters or to prevent floods, or as boundary marks, tide gauges, surveying stations, buoys, or other established marks, nor remove for ballast or other purposes any stone or other material composing such works: Provided, That the Secretary of War may, on the recommendation of the Chief of Engineers, grant permission for the temporary occupation or use of any of the aforementioned public works when in his judgment such occupation or use will not be injurious to the public interest.

SEC. 15. That it shall not be lawful to tie up or anchor vessels or other craft in navigable channels in such a manner as to prevent or obstruct the passage of other vessels -sunken ves or craft; or to voluntarily or carelessly sink, or permit or cause to be sunk, vessels or other craft in navigable channels; or to float loose timber and logs, or to float what is known as sack rafts of timber and logs in streams or chan nels actually navigated by steamboats in such manner as -duties of owner to obstruct, impede, or endanger navigation. And whenever a vessel, raft, or other craft is wrecked and sunk in a navigable channel, accidentally or otherwise, it shall be the duty of the owner of such sunken craft to immediately mark it with a buoy or beacon during the day and a lighted lantern at night, and to maintain such marks until the sunken craft is removed or abandoned, and the neglect or failure of the said owner so to do shall be unlawful; and it shall be the duty of the owner of such sunken craft to commence the immediate removal of the same, and prosecute such removal diligently, and failure to do so shall be considered as an abandonment of such craft, and subject the same to removal by the United States as hereinafter provided for.

Penalties.

SEC. 16. That every person and every corporation that shall violate, or that shall knowingly aid, abet, authorize, or instigate a violation of the provisions of sections thir teen, fourteen, and fifteen of this Act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding twenty-five hundred dollars nor less than five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment (in the case of a natural person) for not less than thirty days nor more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment. in the discretion of the court, one-half of said fine to be paid to the person or persons giving information which shall lead to conviction. And any and every master, pilot, and engineer, or person or persons acting in such capacity, respectively, on board of any boat or vessel who shall knowingly engage in towing any scow, boat, or vessel loaded with any material specified in section thirteen of this Act to any point or place of deposit or discharge in any harbor or navigable water, elsewhere than within the limits defined and permitted by the Secretary of War, or who shall willfully injure or destroy any work of the United States contemplated in section fourteen of this Act, or who shall willfully obstruct the channel of any waterway in the manner contemplated in section fifteen of this Act,

shall be deemed guilty of a violation of this Act, and shall upon conviction be punished as herein before provided in this section, and shall also have his license revoked or suspended for a term to be fixed by the judge before whom tried and convicted. And any boat, vessel, scow, raft, or other craft used or employed in violating any of the provisions of sections thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen of this Act shall be liable for the pecuniary penalties specified in this section, and in addition thereto for the amount of the damages done by said boat, vessel, scow, raft, or other craft, which latter sum shall be placed to the credit of the appropriation for the improvement of the harbor or waterway in which the damage occurred, and said boat, vessel, scow, raft, or other craft may be proceeded against summarily by way of libel in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction thereof.

granted certain

SEC. 17. That the Department of Justice shall conduct, Legal proceedings, by whom the legal proceedings necessary to enforce the foregoing conducted, etc. provisions of sections nine to sixteen, inclusive, of this Act; and it shall be the duty of district attorneys of the United States to vigorously prosecute all offenders against the same whenever requested to do so by the Secretary of War or by any of the officials hereinafter designated, and it shall furthermore be the duty of said district attorneys to report to the Attorney-General of the United States the action taken by him against offenders so reported, and a transcript of such reports shall be transmitted to the Secretary of War by the Attorney-General; and for the better Power to arrest enforcement of the said provisions and to facilitate the de- officials. tection and bringing to punishment of such offenders, the officers and agents of the United States in charge of river and harbor improvements, and the assistant engineers and inspectors employed under them by authority of the Secretary of War, and the United States collectors of customs and other revenue officers, shall have power and authority to swear out process and to arrest and take into custody, with or without process, any person or persons who may commit any of the acts or offenses prohibited by the aforesaid sections of this Act, or who may violate any of the provisions of the same: Provided, That no person shall be arrested without process for any offense not committed in Committed in the presence of some one of the aforesaid officials: And presence of. provided further, That whenever any arrest is made under-examination of the provisions of this Act, the person so arrested shall be brought forthwith before a commissioner, judge, or court of the United States for examination of the offenses alleged against him; and such commissioner, judge, or court shall proceed in respect thereto as authorized by law in case of crimes against the United States.

Provisos. -offense to be

prisoner.

bridges.

SEC. 18. That whenever the Secretary of War shall have Obstruction to good reason to believe that any railroad or other bridge navigation by now constructed, or which may hereafter be constructed, -notice to alter. over any of the navigable waterways of the United States is an unreasonable obstruction to the free navigation of such waters on account of insufficient height, width of span, or otherwise, or where there is difficulty in passing

-penalty.

Proviso.

-appeal.

1

structions to navigation.

the draw opening or the draw span of such bridge by rafts, steamboats, or other water craft, it shall be the duty of the said Secretary, first giving the parties reasonable opportunity to be heard, to give notice to the persons or corporations owning or controlling such bridge so to alter the same as to render navigation through or under it reasona ably free, easy, and unobstructed; and in giving such notice he shall specify the changes recommended by the Chief of Engineers that are required to be made, and shall prescribe in each case a reasonable time in which to make them. If at the end of such time the alteration has not been made, the Secretary of War shall forthwith notify the United States district attorney for the district in which such bridge is situated, to the end that the criminal proceedings hereinafter mentioned may be taken. If the persons, corporation, or association owning or controlling any railroad or other bridge shall, after receiving notice to that effect, as herein before required, from the Secretary of War, and within the time prescribed by him willfully fail or refuse to remove the same or to comply with the lawful order of the Secretary of War in the premises, such persons, corporation, or association shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, and every month such persons, corporation, or association shall remain in default in respect to the removal or alteration of such bridge shall be deemed a new offense, and subject the persons, corporation, or association so offending to the penalties above prescribed: Provided, That in any case arising under the provisions of this section an appeal or writ of error may be taken from the district courts or from the existing circuit courts direct to the Supreme Court either by the United States or by the defendants.

Removal of ob- SEC. 19. That whenever the navigation of any river, lake, harbor, sound, bay, canal, or other navigable waters of the United States shall be obstructed or endangered by any sunken vessel, boat, water craft, raft, or other similar obstruction, and such obstruction has existed for a longer period than thirty days, or whenever the abandonment of such obstruction can be legally established in a less space of time, the sunken vessel, boat, water craft, raft, or other obstruction shall be subject to be broken up, removed, sold, or otherwise disposed of by the Secretary of War at his discretion, without liability for any damage to the own ers of the same: Provided, That in his discretion, the Secretary of War may cause reasonable notice of such obstruction of not less than thirty days, unless the legal abandonment of the obstruction can be established in a less time, to be given by publication, addressed "To whom it may concern," in a newspaper published nearest to the locality of the obstruction, requiring the removal thereof: -proposals to And provided also, That the Secretary of War may, in his discretion, at or after the time of giving such notice, cause sealed proposals to be solicited by public advertisement, giving reasonable notice of not less than ten days, for the removal of such obstruction as soon as possible after the

Provisos. -notice.

remove.

expiration of the above specified thirty days' notice, in case it has not in the meantime been so removed, these proposals and contracts, at his discretion, to be conditioned that such vessel, boat, water craft, raft, or other obstruction, and all cargo and property contained therein, shall become the property of the contractor, and the contract shall be awarded to the bidder making the proposition most advantageous to the United States: Provided, That-bond of bidder. such bidder shall give satisfactory security to execute the work: Provided further, That any money received from the Disposition of sale of any such wreck, or from any contractor for the of wrecks. removal of wrecks, under this paragraph shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States.

funds from sale

SEC. 20. That under emergency, in the case of any ves-, Vessels ground ing, etc. sel, boat, water craft, or raft, or other similar obstruction, destruction, sinking or grounding, or being unnecessarily delayed in eto., of. any Government canal or lock, or in any navigable waters mentioned in section nineteen, in such manner as to stop, seriously interfere with, or specially endanger navigation, in the opinion of the Secretary of War, or any agent of the United States to whom the Secretary may delegate proper authority, the Secretary of War or any such agent shall have the right to take immediate possession of such boat, vessel, or other water craft, or raft, so far as to remove or to destroy it and to clear immediately the canal, lock, or navigable waters aforesaid of the obstruction thereby caused, using his best judgment to prevent any unnecessary injury; and no one shall interfere with or prevent such removal or destruction: Provided, That the officer or agent Provisos. charged with the removal or destruction of an obstruction under this section may in his discretion give notice in writ ing to the owners of any such obstruction requiring them to remove it: And provided further, That the expense of expense of reremoving any such obstruction as aforesaid shall be a charge against such craft and cargo; and if the owners -reimburse. thereof fail or refuse to reimburse the United States for such expense within thirty days after notification, then the officer or agent aforesaid may sell the craft or cargo, or any part thereof that may not have been destroyed in removal, and the proceeds of such sale shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States.

-notice.

moval.

ment.

Such sum of money as may be necessary to execute this Appropriation. section and the preceding section of this Act is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be paid out on the requisition of the Secretary of War.

That all laws or parts of laws inconsistent with the fore- Repeal. going sections ten to twenty, inclusive, of this Act are hereby repealed: Provided, That no action begun, or right of action accrued, prior to the passage of this Act shall excepted. be affected by this repeal.

Proviso. -prior actions

SEC. 21. Whenever in this Act the amount provided for Appropriation for completion of the completion of any project under continuing contract project less than is less than the cost as estimated by the engineers, pro- bids estimated cost; posals for bids shall be invited without further action by Congress.

examinations

rected.

Preliminary SEC. 22. That the Secretary of War is hereby directed and surveys di- to cause preliminary examinations or surveys to be made at the localities named in this section as hereinafter proScope of pre- vided. In all cases a preliminary examination shall first liminary exami be made, which shall embrace information concerning the nation, etc. commercial importance, present and prospective, of the river or harbor mentioned, and a report as to the advisability of its improvement. Whenever such preliminary examination has been made, in case such improvement is not deemed advisable, no further action shall be taken thereon without the direction of Congress; but in case the report has been or shall be to the effect that such river or harbor is worthy of improvement, the Secretary of War is hereby directed, at his discretion, to cause surveys to be made and the cost of improving such river or harbor to be estimated and to be reported to Congress, to wit:

California.

Connecticut.

Channel between the straits of Carquinez and the Golden Gate, off Point Pinole, Point Wilson, and Lone Tree Point, with a view to obtaining a channel three hundred feet in width, of a depth of thirty feet.

Harbor of South San Francisco, San Mateo County.

CONNECTICUT.

Delaware.

Florida.

Milford Harbor.

DELAWARE.

Saint Jones River, Delaware, from its mouth to the highest point of feasible navigation.

FLORIDA.

East Pass, at the entrance of Carrabelle Harbor, Florida, with a view to obtaining a channel depth of twenty-two feet at mean low water.

Ocklockonnee River.

Bay at Hudson, Pasco County.

Inside passage through Sarasota Bay to Lemon Bay.

Boca Grande and Charlotte Harbor, with a view to obtaining a depth of twenty-four feet of water over the bar at the entrance of the harbor and eighteen feet thence up to Punta Gorda.

Kissimmee River and connecting lakes and canals flowing into Lake Okechobee, thence down the Caloosahatchee River to the Gulf of Mexico, with a view to improving the navigation of the channels therein.

Punta Rassa: Inside passage to Charlotte Harbor.

Orange River: To its confluence with Caloosahatchee and thence to Gulf of Mexico.