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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 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.
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