Opinion of the Court. engines and crews than with those of the Rock Island. But this court, speaking through Mr. Justice Brown, said: "It is obviously necessary to the harmonious working of the two systems that the general control and management of the yard should remain with the defendant; but it is not easy to see why that control may not be as well exercised over two switching crews belonging to two different companies as over two crews belonging to the same company. It occurs to us that it would cause fully as much inconvenience to transfer the control of trains from the employés of one company to those of another, as such trains enter or leave the terminal yard, as it would be to permit the switching of such trains within the yard by the hands that brought them in or were to take them out. It appears that yards have been jointly operated in this manner in such large railway centres as Kansas City, Toledo and Chicago without serious difficulty. We think that the same rule should also be applied to those employed in handling the freight. With reference to this, the decree of the court below provided that the plaintiff had a right to employ its separate switching crews and operate its own switching engines in the yards of the defendant company under the sole and absolute supervision, direction and control, however, of the yardmaster or other properly constituted officer or agent of the defendant, and subject to the orders and instructions of such yardmaster, etc., and in this there was no error." Such being the nature of the contract, a contract frequently made between railroad companies, upon what reasonable ground should it be held invalid as an unlawful assumption of power? The evidence shows that between the bridge and South Omaha some of the most thickly populated and densely settled portions of the city of Omaha are situated; that five railroads engaged in transcontinental traffic do their terminal business there, taking up and setting down passengers, collecting, unloading and delivering freight; that a large part of the territory is filled with the tracks of the Union Pacific and Burlington Companies, and that there is scant room, if Opinion of the Court. any, for another company with the many tracks required for terminal business; that the whole territory is very valuable, densely populated and filled with tracks; and that at South Omaha are stockyards and packing industries of great extent, furnishing the companies a vast volume of freight and compelling the building of many tracks. If it were true that railroad companies could not, ordinarily, without the aid of a statute, grant running facilities over their tracks even when such an arrangement would not interfere with their business, the application of so rigorous a rule to defeat a contract as between the parties, in respect of tracks in the congested parts of large cities, where the entire use of them is not required by their owners, does not seem reasonable. It is well said by Sanborn, J., speaking for the Circuit Court of Appeals: "Courts cannot be blind to the fact that every railroad company cannot have entrance to our great cities over tracks of its own, or to the fact that railroad companies do, and every public interest requires that they should, make proper contracts for terminal facilities over the roads of each other." We think that it would be carrying the doctrine of ultra vires much too far to deny absolutely the competency of a railroad company, being a public highway, whose use is common to all citizens, to contract to give another running rights over its tracks without express statutory authority; and that, under proper circumstances, such a contract may well be held within its implied powers. In Lake Superior Railway Co. v. United States, 93 U. S. 492, Mr. Justice Bradley adverts to and comments on the fact that in England and in this country railroads when first constructed were by the legislatures and the people regarded and treated as public highways for the use of all who had occasion to run their vehicles thereon; and this is certainly so far true, in modern acceptation, that being for the common use of the public, their owners are ordinarily competent to make contracts which will subserve such use. But the determination of the existence of the power to grant running rights in this instance does not rest on these Opinion of the Court. considerations alone. For the provisions of the Pacific Railroad acts relating to the bridge over the Missouri River, its construction and operation, imposed on the Pacific Company the duty of permitting the Rock Island Company to run its engines, cars and trains over the bridge and the tracks between Council Bluffs and Omaha, and we think that South Omaha was included. The original charter of 1862 required the construction of the Pacific road from the east bank of the river, and so impliedly authorized the company to bridge it, and the amendatory act of 1864 expressly gave the corporation authority "to construct bridges over said Missouri River." The bridge contemplated was for the company's use as a part of its road, and no provision was made for other roads or other business, nor were any special means provided for the construction of the bridge. In 1871 several roads had been built from the East to Council Bluffs, and others were building and roads were in process of construction in Nebraska with Omaha as their terminus. The Omaha Bridge act of February 24, 1871, c. 67, 16 Stat. 430, was then passed, by which, "for the more perfect connection of any railroads that are or shall be constructed to the Missouri River, at or near Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska," the company was authorized to issue bonds not exceeding two and one half million dollars, and to "secure the same by mortgage on the bridge and approaches and appurtenances, as it may deem needful to construct and maintain its bridge over said river, and the tracks and depots required to perfect the same, as now authorized by law of Congress." The bridge was "to be so constructed as to provide for ordinary vehicles and travel;" and the company was authorized "to levy and collect tolls for the use of the same." The act further provided "for the use and protection of said bridge and property, the Union Pacific Railway Company shall be empowered, governed and limited by the provisions of the act entitled 'An act to authorize the construction of certain bridges and to establish them as post roads,' approved July twenty five, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, so far as the same Opinion of the Court. is applicable thereto." The act of 1866 thus referred to, 14 Stat. 244, c. 246, is entitled "An act to authorize the construction of certain bridges and to establish them as post roads." It authorized the construction of nine different bridges, eight across the Mississippi River and one across the Missouri River. The first bridge provided for was to be constructed at Quincy, Illinois, and by the first section it was made lawful for any person or persons, company or corporation, having authority from the States of Illinois and Missouri for that purpose, "to build a bridge across the Mississippi River at Quincy, Illinois, and to lay on and over said bridge railway tracks, for the more perfect connection with any railroads that are or shall be constructed to the said river at or opposite said point, and that when constructed the trains of all roads terminating at said river, at or opposite said point, shall be allowed to cross said bridge for reasonable compensation, to be made to the owners of said bridge under the limitations and conditions hereinafter provided." The common object of both these acts plainly was the more perfect connection of roads running to the bridges on either side of the river. And this is in harmony with numerous acts of Congress referred to in the opinion of the Circuit Court of Appeals; Act of February 21, 1868, 15 Stat. 37; Act of May 6, 1870, c. 93, 16 Stat. 121; Act of June 30, 1870, c. 176, 16 Stat. 173; Act of July 1, 1870, c. 195, 16 Stat. 185; Act of March 3, 1871, c. 110, 16 Stat. 473; Joint resolution of March 3, 1871, No. 48, 16 Stat. 599, and many others, all of them indicating a settled policy that all structures of this character should allow connecting roads to cross them with their cars, trains and engines. It is said that the reference to the act of 1866 should be confined to its second and third sections; but as the matters provided for in those sections were fully otherwise covered in the Pacific Railroad acts, that does not commend itself to us as a reasonable construction. But it is argued that even if the Pacific Company were authorized to grant to the Rock Island Company the right to run its trains with its engines over the bridge, it was not empowered to grant the same rights over the tracks. The evidence shows Opinion of the Court. that the tracks east of the bridge were upon the approach to the structure proper, and it appears from the maps that the depot at the west end of the bridge was more than half a mile distant. The act of 1871 provided that for the more perfect connection of the roads east of the river with those west of it the company might issue bonds and secure the same by mortgage "on the bridge and approaches and appurtenances," and it would seem to be clear that the approaches on the west side, as well as on the east, must be regarded as part of the structure. Moreover, the act refers to "the tracks and depots required to perfect the same." A railroad bridge can be of no use to the public unless united with necessary appurtenances, such as approaches, tracks, depots and other facilities for the public accommodation. And we consider Council Bluffs, Omaha and South Omaha, under the facts, as necessarily embraced in the intention of Congress. It is true that it appears that from the depot to the point in South Omaha where the tracks of the companies connected, is about four miles; but the scheme of Congress was to accomplish the more perfect connection 66 at or near Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska,” and we think this distance reasonably within the terms of the act of 1871, liberally construed, as the act should be. The legislation of 1862 and 1864 in respect of the Union Pacific Railway Company was under consideration in Union Pacific Railway Co. v. Hall, 91 U. S. 343, 345, and it was said by Mr. Justice Strong: "The scheme of the act of Congress, then, is very apparent. It was to secure the connection of the main line, by at least three branches, with the Missouri and Iowa railroads, and with a railroad running eastwardly from Sioux City in Iowa, either through that State or through Minnesota. An observance of this scheme, we think, will aid in considering the inquiry at what place the act of Congress, and the orders of the President made in pursuance thereof, established the eastern terminus of the Iowa branch. From it may reasonably be inferred that the purpose of Congress was to provide for connections of the branches of the main line of the Union Pacific road with railroads running through the States on the east of the Territory, and to provide for those connec |