§ 319. — Rightsofway for telephone and telegraph lines.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 25USC319]
TITLE 25--INDIANS
CHAPTER 8--RIGHTS-OF-WAY THROUGH INDIAN LANDS
Sec. 319. Rights-of-way for telephone and telegraph lines
The Secretary of the Interior is authorized and empowered to grant a
right of way, in the nature of an easement, for the construction,
operation, and maintenance of telephone and telegraph lines and offices
for general telephone and telegraph business through any Indian
reservation, through any lands held by an Indian tribe or nation in the
former Indian Territory, through any lands reserved for an Indian agency
or Indian school, or for other purpose in connection with the Indian
service, or through any lands which have been allotted in severalty to
any individual Indian under any law or treaty, but which have not been
conveyed to the allottee with full power of alienation, upon the terms
and conditions herein expressed. No such lines shall be constructed
across Indian lands, as above mentioned, until authority therefor has
first been obtained from the Secretary of the Interior, and the maps of
definite location of the lines shall be subject to his approval. The
compensation to be paid the tribes in their tribal capacity and the
individual allottees for such right of way through their lands shall be
determined in such manner as the Secretary of the Interior may direct,
and shall be subject to his final approval; and where such lines are not
subject to State or Territorial taxation the company or owner of the
line shall pay to the Secretary of the Interior, for the use and benefit
of the Indians, such annual tax as he may designate, not exceeding $5
for each ten miles of line so constructed and maintained; and all such
lines shall be constructed and maintained under such rules and
regulations as said Secretary may prescribe. But nothing herein
contained shall be so construed as to exempt the owners of such lines
from the payment of any tax that may be lawfully assessed against them
by either State, Territorial, or municipal authority; and Congress
hereby expressly reserves the right to regulate the tolls or charges for
the transmission of messages over any lines constructed under the
provisions of this section: Provided, That incorporated cities and towns
into or through which such telephone or telegraphic lines may be
constructed shall have the power to regulate the manner of construction
therein, and nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to deny
the right of municipal taxation in such towns and cities.
(Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 832, Sec. 3, 31 Stat. 1083.)
Codification
The ``former Indian Territory'', referred to in text, was in the
original ``Indian Territory'', and has been designated as former Indian
Territory by virtue of the admission of such former Territory and the
Territory of Oklahoma to the Union as the State of Oklahoma, pursuant to
act June 16, 1906, ch. 3335, 34 Stat. 267.
Section is comprised of the first par. of section 3 of act Mar. 3,
1901. The second par. of such section 3 is classified to section 357 of
this title.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in section 322 of this title.
