New York § 90 - 90Poles and wires on reservation

§ 90. 90Poles and wires on reservation

§ 90. Poles and wires on reservation. Any company may erect poles and wires, and other necessary fixtures thereto, across the lands of the Seneca Indians on the Tonawanda reservation, provided the company shall pay to the Indians to whom allotments have been made, and on whose premises telephone or telegraph poles for the purpose of supporting wires have been or may hereafter be erected, damages therefor, which in case of inability to agree thereon, shall be ascertained in the manner provided in the eminent domain procedure law. And in case the poles are erected on lands that have not been allotted to any Indian, then the said company shall pay a like sum to the district attorney of Genesee county, who shall distribute the same in accordance with the provisions of section eighty-six of this article. And in case any company may have already erected poles, or in case any company may hereafter erect poles without paying therefor in accordance therewith, then the said Indians are authorized to maintain actions of ejectment against the company therefor, in the same manner as citizens of this state, and as if they were owners in severalty of the lands so allotted to them. In case the lands are not allotted, then such an action may be prosecuted in the name of the Tonawanda band of Seneca Indians. The provisions of this article shall not apply to the existing lines of any such company, which has heretofore obtained the consent of said Seneca Indians to the erection of such existing lines and shall have paid a valuable consideration for the same, so far as such existing lines have been erected upon lands that have not been allotted.