370. Lights and buoys. The Light-House Board may, when they deem it necessary, place a light-vessel, or other suitable warning of danger, on or over any wreck or temporary obstruction to the entrance of any harbor, or in the channel or fairway of any bay or sound. R. S., 4676. The Light-House Board shall properly mark all pier- R. S., 4677. heads belonging to the United States situated on the northern and northwestern lakes, whenever the board is duly notified by the department charged with the construction or repair of pier-heads that the construction or repair of any such pier-heads has been completed. All buoys along the coast, or in bays, harbors, sounds, R. S., 4678. or channels, shall be colored and numbered, so that passing up the coast or sound, or entering the bay, harbor, or channel, red buoys with even numbers shall be passed on the starboard hand, black buoys with uneven numbers on the port hand, and buoys with red and black stripes on either hand. Buoys in channel-ways shall be colored with alternate white and black perpendicular stripes. 371. Nautical Almanac. Hereafter the "usual number" of copies of the Amer- May 13, 1902. ican Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac shall not be printed. In lieu thereof there shall be printed and bound one thousand one hundred copies of the same, uniform with the editions printed for the Navy Department, as provided in section seventy-three, paragraph five, of an Act approved January twelfth, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, providing for the public printing, binding, and distribution of public documents; one hundred copies for the Senate, four hundred for the House, and six hundred for the Superintendent of Documents for distribution to State and Territorial libraries and designated depositories. 372. Charts and manuals. There shall be a Hydrographic office attached to the R. S., 431. Bureau of Navigation in the Navy Department, for the improvement of the means for navigating safely the vessels of the Navy and of the mercantile marine, by providing, under the authority of the Secretary of the Navy, accurate and cheap nautical charts, sailing directions, navigators, and manuals of instructions for the use of all vessels of the United States, and for the benefit and use of navigators generally. The Secretary of the Navy is authorized to cause to be R. S., 432. prepared, at the Hydrographic Office attached to the Bureau of Navigation in the Navy Department, maps, charts, and nautical books relating to and required in navigation, and to publish and furnish them to navigators at the cost of printing and paper, and to purchase the plates and copyrights of such existing maps, charts, navigators, sail R. S., 4691. ing directions and instructions, as he may consider necessary, and when he may consider it expedient to do so, and under such regulations and instructions as he may prescribe. The charts published by the Coast Survey shall be sold June 20, 1878. at the office at Washington at the price of the printing and paper thereof, and elsewhere at the same price with the average cost of delivery added thereto; and hereafter there shall be no free distribution of such charts except to the departments of the United States and to the several States and officers of the United States requiring them for public use. Mar. 3, 1879. Oct. 1, 1890. R. S., 435. Senators, Representatives and Delegates to the House of Representatives shall each be entitled to not more than ten charts published by the Coast Survey for each regular session of Congress. 373. Storm and weather signals. The Chief of the Weather Bureau, under the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture, on and after July first, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, shall have charge of the forecasting of weather, the issue of storm warnings, the display of weather and flood signals for the benefit of agriculture, commerce, and navigation, the gauging and reporting of rivers, the maintenance and operation of seacoast telegraph lines and the collection and transmission of marine intelligence for the benefit of commerce and navigation, the reporting of temperature and rain-fall conditions for the cotton interests, the display of frost and cold-wave signals, the distribution of meteorological information in the interests of agriculture and commerce, and the taking of such meteorological observations as may be necessary to establish and record the climatic conditions of the United States, or as are essential for the proper execution of the foregoing duties. 374. Meridians. The meridian of the Observatory at Washington shall be adopted and used as the American meridian for all astronomical purposes, and the meridian of Greenwich shall be adopted for all nautical purposes. PART XXXVI. OBSTRUCTIONS TO NAVIGATION. 375. Improvements by private or mu nicipal corporations. 376. Bridges, dams, dikes. 377. General obstructions. 378. Harbor lines. 379. Penalties. 380. Dumping into navigable waters. 383. Log regulations. 385. Bridge spans. 386. Bridge piers and abutments. 388. Sunken wrecks. 389. Speed of vessels-navigation of canals. 390. Potomac River. 375. Improvements by private or municipal corporations. Any person or persons, corporations, municipal or pri- June 13, 1902. vate, who desire to improve any navigable river, or any part thereof, at their or its own expense and risk may do so upon the approval of the plans and specifications of said proposed improvement by the Secretary of War and Chief of Engineers of the Army. The plan of said improvement must conform with the general plan of the Government improvements, must not impede navigation, and no toll shall be imposed on account thereof, and said improvement shall at all times be under the control and supervision of the Secretary of War and Chief of Engi neers. 376. Bridges, dams, dikes. When, hereafter, authority is granted by Congress to Mar. 23, 1906. any persons to construct and maintain a bridge across or over any of the navigable waters of the United States, such bridge shall not be built or commenced until the plans and specifications for its construction, together with such drawings of the proposed construction and such map of the proposed location as may be required for a full understanding of the subject, have been submitted to the Secretary of War and Chief of Engineers for their approval, nor until they shall have approved such plans and specifications and the location of such bridge and accessory works; and when the plans for any bridge to be constructed under the provisions of this Act have been approved by the Chief of Engineers and by the Secretary of War it shall not be lawful to deviate from such plans, either before or after completion of the structure, unless the modification of such plans has previously been submitted to and received the approval of the Chief of Engineers and of the Secretary of War. <9108-08-24 369 Sec. 4. Sec. 5. No bridge erected or maintained under the provisions of this Act shall at any time unreasonably obstruct the free navigation of the waters over which it is constructed, and if any bridge erected in accordance with the provisions of this Act shall, in the opinion of the Secretary of War, at any time unreasonably obstruct such navigation, either on account of insufficient height, width of span, or otherwise, or if there be difficulty in passing the draw opening or the draw span of such bridge by rafts, steamboats, or other water craft, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of War, after giving the parties interested reasonable opportunity to be heard, to notify the persons owning or controlling such bridge to so alter the same as to render navigation through or under it reasonably free, easy, and unobstructed, stating in such notice the changes required to be made, and prescribing in each case a reasonable time in which to make such changes, and if at the end of the time so specified the changes so required have not been made, the persons owning or controlling such bridge shall be deemed guilty of a violation of this Act; and all such alterations shall be made and all such obstructions shall be removed at the expense of the persons owning or operating said bridge. The persons owning or operating any such bridge shall maintain, at their own expense, such lights and other signals thereon as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall prescribe. If the bridge shall be constructed with a draw, then the draw shall be opened promptly by the persons owning or operating such bridge upon reasonable signal for the passage of boats and other water craft. If tolls shall be charged for the transit over any bridge constructed under the provisions of this Act, of engines, cars, street cars, wagons, carriages, vehicles, animals, foot passengers, or other passengers, such tolls shall be reasonable and just, and the Secretary of War may, at any time, and from time to time, prescribe the reasonable rates of toll for. such transit over such bridge, and the rates so prescribed shall be the legal rates and shall be the rates demanded and received for such transit. Any persons who shall fail or refuse to comply with the lawful order of the Secretary of War or the Chief of Engineers, made in accordance with the provisions of this Act, shall be deemed guilty of a violation of this Act, and any persons who shall be guilty of a violation of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be punished in any court of competent jurisdiction by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, and every month such persons shall remain in default shall be deemed a new offense and subject such persons to additional penalties therefor; and in addition to the penalties above described the Secretary of War and the Chief of Engineers may, upon refusal of the persons owning or controlling any such bridge and accessory works to comply with any lawful order issued by the Secretary of War or Chief of Engineers in regard thereto, cause the removal of such bridge and accessory works at the expense of the persons owning or controlling such bridge, and suit for such expense may be brought in the name of the United States against such persons, and recovery had for such expense in any court of competent jurisdiction; and the removal of any structures erected or maintained in violation of the provisions of this Act or the order or direction of the Secretary of War or Chief of Engineers made in pursuance thereof may be enforced by injunction, mandamus, or other summary process, upon application to the circuit court in the district in which such structure may, in whole or in part, exist, and proper proceedings to this end may be instituted under the direction of the Attorney-General of the United States at the request of the Secretary of War; and in case of any litigation arising from any obstruction or alleged obstruction to navigation created by the construction of any bridge under this Act, the cause or question arising may be tried before the circuit court of the United States in any district which any portion of such obstruction or bridge touches. When, hereafter, authority is granted by Congress to June 21, 1906. any persons to construct and maintain a dam for water power or other purposes across any of the navigable waters of the United States, such dams shall not be built or commenced until the plans and specifications for its construction, together with such drawings of the proposed construction and such map of the proposed location as may be required for a full understanding of the subject, have been submitted to the Secretary of War and Chief of Engineers for their approval, or until they shall have approved such plans and specifications and the location of such dam and accessory works; and when the plans for any dam to be constructed under the provisions of this Act have been approved by the Chief of Engineers and by the Secretary of War it shall not be lawful to deviate from such plans either before or after completion of the structure unless the modification of such plans has previously been submitted to and received the approval of the Chief of Engineers and of the Secretary of War: Provided, That in approving said plans and location such conditions and stipulations may be imposed as the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War may deem necessary to protect the present and future interests of the United States, which may include the condition that such persons shall construct, maintain, and operate, without expense to the United States, in connection with said dam and appurtenant works, a lock or locks, booms, sluices, or any other structures which the Secretary of War and the Chief of Engineers at any time may deem necessary in the interest of navigation, in accordance with |