§ 12. — Port Arthur Ship Canal.
[Laws in effect as of January 7, 2003]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 7, 2003 and December 19, 2003]
[CITE: 33USC12]
TITLE 33--NAVIGATION AND NAVIGABLE WATERS
CHAPTER 1--NAVIGABLE WATERS GENERALLY
SUBCHAPTER I--GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 12. Port Arthur Ship Canal
After there shall be conveyed to the United States, free of cost, a
valid title to the line of water communication between Taylors Bayou and
Sabine Pass, in the State of Texas, known as the Port Arthur Ship Canal,
together with a valid title to the turning basin as existing June 19,
1906, and to the artificial slip on which the lumber dock of the Port
Arthur Canal and Dock Company is built, the said waterways shall
thereupon become free public waters of the United States, and be subject
to the laws enacted by Congress for the maintenance, preservation,
protection, and regulation of navigable waters: Provided, That the
company or corporation conveying title to said canal as aforesaid shall
also convey to the United States, free of cost, the fee to a strip of
land one hundred and fifty feet wide along the westerly margin of the
canal, except that where the right of way of the Southern Pacific
Railroad Company prevents the transfer of such strip of land along the
westerly margin of said canal there shall be conveyed such strip on the
easterly margin thereof as may be necessary to make up such one hundred
and fifty feet of width, with the reservation that until Congress shall
have authorized and provided for the enlargement and widening of said
canal the said company or corporation, its successors or assigns, shall
have the right to control, occupy, and use the said strip of land and
every part thereof in the same manner and to the same extent as before
the execution and delivery of the conveyance, and also the right to
transfer, lease, sell, quitclaim, or otherwise dispose of said property
and every part thereof, subject to the grant made to the United States.
The charges for the use of said docks and wharves shall be just and
reasonable and shall not be greater than charges for similar services at
other ports of the United States on the Gulf of Mexico.
(June 19, 1906, ch. 3436, Sec. 1, 34 Stat. 302.)
Codification
This section is from a proviso following provisions establishing an
additional collection district in the State of Texas to be known as the
district of Sabine; the establishment of the said district being
conditioned on the making of the conveyance referred to in this section.
Further provisions of the said proviso authorizing the Secretary of
War to accept the said waterways as the property of the United States,
and directing that the Act take effect only when the requirements of the
section be fully complied with to the satisfaction of the Secretary of
War, have been omitted as executed and obsolete.
