Every corporation formed under this chapter within a reasonable time after its road has been finally located shall cause a map and profile thereof and of the land required and taken for the use thereof and the boundaries of the several counties through which the same may run to be made and file the same in the office of the secretary of state and also similar maps of the parts thereof located in different counties and file the same in the office of the county clerk of the county in which such parts of the road shall be situated, there to remain on record forever. In case the line of the road is changed at any time, as in this chapter provided, similar maps of the new line must be made and filed. The maps and profiles shall be certified by the chief engineer of the corporation and copies so filed and certified shall be kept in the office of the secretary of the corporation, subject to examination by all persons interested. Copies of the maps and profiles certified by any secretary of the territory of New Mexico or by the secretary of state shall be received as prima facie evidence of what they contain in all courts and places within this state.

History: Laws 1878, ch. 1, ch. [tit.] 8, § 19; C.L. 1884, § 2683; C.L. 1897, § 3874; Code 1915, § 4702; C.S. 1929, § 116-303; 1941 Comp., § 74-211; 1953 Comp., § 69-2-11; 2013, ch. 75, § 39.

Compiler's notes. — For meaning of "this chapter", see compiler's notes to 63-1-8 NMSA 1978.

The 2013 amendment, effective July 1, 2013, required that a map and profile of the corporation's road be filed with the secretary of state; added the title of the section; in the first sentence, after "file the same in the office of the", deleted "state corporation commission" and added "secretary of state"; and in the fourth sentence, after "New Mexico or by", deleted "said commission" and added "the secretary of state".

To constitute valid location of proposed railroad, there must be first a survey and actual staking of the proposed line upon the ground and second the adoption of such survey by the board of directors as its permanent line or right-of-way. Arizona & Colo. R.R. Co. v. Denver & Rio Grande R.R. Co., 1911-NMSC-034, 16 N.M. 281, 117 P. 730, aff'd, 233 U.S. 601, 34 S. Ct. 691, 58 L. Ed. 1111 (1914).

Railroad is entitled to protection of its right of way as soon as its final location is complete, without having recorded map of road as required by this section. Denver & Rio Grande R.R. Co. v. Ariz. & Colo. R.R. Co., 233 U.S. 601, 34 S. Ct. 691, 58 L. Ed. 1111 (1914).

Failure to file map will not cause a railroad to lose its interest in a stake-out location for a road, which interest is sufficient to maintain an action of trespass, until a reasonable time after final location. Arizona & Colo. R.R. Co. v. Denver & Rio Grande R.R. Co., 1911-NMSC-034, 16 N.M. 281, 117 P. 730, aff'd, 233 U.S. 601, 34 S. Ct. 691, 58 L. Ed. 1111 (1914).