Chap. 345.—An ACT to amend certain sections of the act to authorize
the formation of the New river railroad mining and manufacturing
company, as amended by acts approved 2d April, 18738, and 15th
March, 1875; and to change the name of the said company to that of
the New river railroad company.

Approved April 4, 1877.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That sections
one, two, three, five and eix, of an act to amend and re-enact
the first, second, third, fifth and sixth sections of an act to
authorize the formation of the New river railroad mining
and manufacturing company, approved March seventh, eigh-
teen hundred and seventy-two, as amended by an act ap-
proved April second, eighteen hundred and seventy-three,
and as amended by an act approved March fifteenth, eighteen
hundred and seventy-five, be amended and re- enacted 80 as to
read as follows:

§1. Beit enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
it shall be lawful for Richard Wood, John T. Cowan, G. C.
Wharton, A. A. Chapman, Elbert Fowler, P. W. Strother,
Jack Carter, S. H. Newberry, C. W. Statham, William Ma-
hone, J. C. Snidow, William P. Cecil and J. H. A. Smjth, any
five of whom, acting as commissioners, to proceed to the
organization of an incorporate company, to be known as The
New River Railroad Company, which said company, upon
the formation thereof as herein provided, shall be authorized
to construct, maintain and operate a railroad from New river
depot, on the Virginia and Tennessee division of the Atlantic,
Mississippi and Ohio railroad, in the state of Virginia, to such
point as may be agreed upon, on the line dividing the states
of Virginia and West Virginia, and the New river railroad
company shall have the privilege of constructing, maintain-
ing and operating such branch roads as may be necessary to
bring out coal, iron, and other minerals and produce from the
counties of Giles, ‘Bland, Tazewell, Russell, Montgomery,
Pulaski, Carroll, Wythe, Grayson, Buchanan, Scott, Wise and
Lee, and when said company shall locate ite main railroad or
branches through any mountain pass or canon occupied by a
county road, or when it is impracticable to make another
county road in lieu of the former, the county court may,
upon motion, permit said railroad to use and occupy said
county road; ‘and the said New river railroad company shall
be durther empowered to acquire ownersiip of lands, and
shall be entitled to enjoy all the rights and privileges con-
ferred by the laws of Virginia upon railroad corporations,
and shall have perpetual succession.

§ 2. The capital stock of the New river railroad company
ehall not exeeed tour millions of dollars, to be divided in
shares of one hundred dollars cach; cach share subscribed
10 be entitled to one vote in all meetings of the company ;
and fifty thousand dollars shall be taken as the minimum sub-
RCT pte on which said company may be organized.

§ 3. That the commissioners aforenamed may proceed in
such manner as they deem most expedient to obtain
subscriptions to the capital stock of said company; and it
shall be lawful for any railroad, mining, or manufacturing
company, to subscribe to and hold stock in the New river
railroad company. It shall also be Jawful for the counties of
Pulaski, Montgomery, Giles, Bland, Tazewell, Russell, Buch-
anan, Wise, Scott, Lee, Carroll, Wythe, and Grayson, in their
corporate capacities, to subscribe to the capital stock of the
New river railroad company, whenever such subscription
shall be authorized by a vote of the people of such counties,
as provided by the laws of the state of Virginia, and to make
payment of any such subscriptions so authorized. It shall be
lawful for said counties to issue bonds, and to secure the pay-
ment of interest and principal of the same, by a special tax
upon such subjects as are taxable by the state of Virginia,
sufficient to pay current interest thereon, and to provide a
sinking fund adequate to the ultimate discharge of principal
and interest at maturity.

§ 5. It shall be lawful for the New river railroad company
to issue bonds, and to secure the payment of the principal
and interest of the same, by mortgage upon its property,
franchises, and so forth. And it shall also be lawful for the
New river railroad company to subscribe to and hold stock
in any mining or manufacturing company, and may aid and
assist other yon stock companies.

§ 6. The New river railroad company may consolidate its
atock, franchises, and property, with those of any railroad
company in Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina,
upon such terms as may be agreed upon by the president and
directors of the company proposing to consolidate.

. This act shall be in force from its passage.