Volume 73 · 71
Public Law 86–41
To provide for the acquisition of additional land along the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway in exchange for certain dredging privileges, and for other purposes.
Approved June 11, 1959
Statutory text
AN ACT
To provide for the acquisition of additional land along the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway in exchange for certain dredging privileges, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That in order to protect more adequately the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, to add further to its memorial character, and in order to acquire an area of irreplaceable wet lands near the Nation’s Capitol which is valuable for the production and preservation of wildlife, the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to carry out the following transactions with the Smoot Sand and Gravel Corporation:
The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to acquire certain
Acquisition of land.
lands in exchange for certain dredging and other rights on land already owned by the United States on the east side of the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway in Fairfax County, Virginia, extending from approximately station 426 to station 516 + 50, shown as areas “A”, “B”, “C”, and “D” on plan numbered 105.22–415 in the files of the National Capital Planning Commission and more particularly set forth as follows:
To accept on behalf of the United States of America a good and sufficient title in fee simple, free of all encumbrances, to that piece of land lying on the east side of the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway and extending from approximately opposite station 459 to station 516 + 50, approximately five thousand seven hundred and fifty feet in length and averaging approximately eight hundred feet in width, and containing one hundred and ten acres, more or less, and as further shown as area “A” on said plan.
To accept on behalf of the United States of America a good and sufficient title in fee simple, free of all encumbrances, to area “D” lying between area “A” and the Potomac River, and containing one hundred and fifty acres, more or less; the Smoot Sand and Gravel Corporation reserving unto itself, its successors and assigns, the right to remove sand and gravel therefrom for a period of thirty years, and for the same period reserving such riparian rights as may exist in area “D”.
To permit the Smoot Sand and Gravel Corporation, its successors and assigns, to remove sand and gravel from that part of United States property lying east of area “B” and opposite stations 426 to 459, to the extent of eighty-five acres, of the total one hundred and ten acres in area “C”, as shown on said plan, for a period of twenty years, and for the same period granting such riparian rights as may exist in this area.
To require that the scope of dredging operations necessary to remove the sand and gravel in areas “C” and “D” be so limited and conducted as not to undermine the adjacent shores of areas “A” and “B”; and to allow the workmen employed in the dredging operations at the locations described above to have access to the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway for the purpose of going to and from work, and to park their cars at designated places.
The Secretary of the Interior is hereby further authorized to
Contracts.
Terms and conditions.
prescribe in any contract or contracts entered into pursuant hereto any other terms and conditions deemed necessary to protect the interests of the United States in the above transactions, including conditions governing the conduct of dredging operations, the deposition of spoil, and the revegetation of spoil areas, so that these activities will be carried on in such a manner as to provide for the preservation of wildlife values in areas “C” and “D”: Provided, That nothing contained in this Act or any contract entered into pursuant to this Act, between the United States of America and the Smoot Sand and Gravel Corporation shall be construed as interfering with the uninterrupted right of the Smoot Sand and Gravel Corporation to dredge in areas “C” and “D” for the periods specified.
All lands acquired by the United States pursuant to this Act
Administration.
shall be administered by the Secretary of the Interior. The Secretary shall administer all of the lands described in this bill as “A”, “B”, “C”, and “D” so that fish and wildlife development and their preservation as wet land wildlife habitat shall be paramount, except such portion thereof that the Secretary shall designate as a part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway within one year from the effective date of this Act.
All dredging shall be performed in accordance with plans recommended by the Chief of Engineers and authorized by the Secretary of the Army as provided in section 10 of River and Harbor Act approved March 3, 1899 (30 Stat. 1151; 33 U.S.C. 403), as amended.
Approved June 11, 1959.