43 U.S.C. § 942-8 : US Code - Section 942-8: Reservation of right of alteration, amendment, or repeal; assignment of right of way

Search 43 U.S.C. § 942-8 : US Code - Section 942-8: Reservation of right of alteration, amendment, or repeal; assignment of right of way

Congress reserves the right at any time to alter, amend, or
repeal sections 687a, 687a-2 to 687a-5,(!1) and 942-1 to 942-9 of
this title and sections 607a and 615a of title 16 or any part
thereof; and the right of way herein authorized shall not be
assigned or transferred in any form whatever prior to the
construction and completion of at least one-fourth of the proposed
mileage of such railroad, wagon road, or tramway, as indicated by
the map of definite location, except by mortgages or other liens
that may be given or secured thereon to aid in the construction
thereof: Provided, That where within ninety days after May 14,
1898, proof is made to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the
Interior that actual surveys, evidenced by designated monuments,
were made, and the line of a railroad, wagon road, or tramway
located thereby, or that actual construction was commenced on the
line of any railroad, wagon road, or tramway, prior to January 21,
1898, the rights to inure hereunder shall, if the terms of said
sections are complied with as to such railroad, wagon road, or
tramway, relate back to the date when such survey or construction
was commenced; and in all conflicts relative to the right-of-way or
other privilege of said sections the person, company, or
corporation having been first in time in actual survey or
construction, as the case may be, shall be deemed first in right.