Chap. 352.—An ACT to incorporate the Blue Ridge mineral railway
company.

Approved May 21, 1887.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
Abram Staples and A. F. Mays, of the county of Patrick:
W. A. Moore and Winston Fulton, of Mount Airy, North
Carolina; M. T. C. Mitchell, P. T. Blamer and D. W. Bolen,
of the county of Carroll; J. W. Hackler, R. C. Jackson and
S. M. Fulton, of the county of Grayson; and E. C. Finch, A.
S. McNeil, J. F. Hicks, John R. Dickey, W. F. Rhea, and A.
Fulkerson, of Goodson, Virginia, be and they are bereby in-
corporated and made a body politic by the name and style of
the Blue Ridge mincral railway company; and by that name
may have perpetual succession, may sue and be sued, plead
and be impleaded, and shall have all the rights and powers
of an incorporated company necessary and proper to build,
construct, equip, and operate a railroad, either standard or
narrow gauge, from the town of Stuart, in the county of
Patrick, or trom any point on or near the State line in the
counties of Patrick or Carroll, where said company may be
able to make connection with any other railroad company,
through the counties of Carroll, Patrick, Grayson, Smyth.
and Washington to Bristol, in the State of Tennessce.

2. The capital stock of said company shall not be less than
one hundred thousand dollars nor more than five million dol-
lars, to be divided into such shares as the board of directors
may prescribe, and each stockholder shall be entitled to one
vote in general meeting for each share of stock registered in
his name. The persons hereinbefore named, or any eight of
them, may organize said company by the election of a presi-
dent, vice-president, board of directors, and such other offi-
cers as may be deemed necessary; and thereupon said com-
any shall have and enjoy all the powers and privileges of an
incorporated company, and be subject to all the restrictions
imposed by the laws of this State upon internal improvement
companies, except so far as may be modified by this act.

3. Subscriptions to the capital stock of said company may
be made in money, lands, mineral properties, timber, mate-
rial, and labor, and such other things as the board of direc-
tors may agree upon, to be taken in exchange for stock upon
such terms and at such value as the board of directors of said
company and the subscribers may agree upon. Other com-
panies may, with the consent of this company, subscribe to
its capital stock.

4. The board of directors shall have power to issue bonds
in the sum of not less than one hundred dollars each, bearing
interest at not exceeding six per centum per annum, the
principal and interest payable at such time and places as the
board of directors may prescribe, and may secure said bonds
by one or more mortgages or deeds of trust on the road, its
franchises, incomes, and real and personal property, or such
parts thereof as may be mentioned in said mortgages or deeds
of trust. The board of directors may, with the consent of
a majority of the stockholders entered of record at any stock-
holders’ meeting, lcase the road bed, rolling stock, and equip-
ments of this company to any other company, upon such
terms as may be agreed upon between said companies.

5. Any county through which the said Blue Ridge minc-
ral railway company may conclude to construct a railroad
for a distance of twenty-five miles or more, except the county
of Patrick, may subscribe to the capital stock of said com-
pany, a sum not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars, and
to that end the judge of the county court of such county
shall, when applied to by the president of this company,
order an election to be held upon the question of making
such subscription, which election shall be published, held, and
the votes counted and returned in the manner prescribed in
sections sixty-two and sixty-three of chapter sixty-one of the
Code of eighteen hundred and seventy-three, and if it shall
appear upon the returns of such election that three-fifths of
the qualified voters voting at such election have voted in
favor of such subscription, and that a majority of the freo-
holders so voting have also voted in favor of said subscrip-
tion, the county court of said county shall at its next term
after said election, make such order for the issuance of county
bonds, for the amount voted for, as will carry out the pro-
visions of the next section of this act, and it shall then bo
the duty of the board of supervisors of such county to levy
and collect a tax sufficient to pay the interest on such sub-
scription, and provide a sinking fund to extinguish the prin-
cipal at maturity, and the county bonds shall be received at
their par value in exchange for the stock of said company at
its par value.

6. Before any election shall be ordered upon the question
of a county subscription under this act, the president of said
company shall file with the county judge where such election
is to be held, a statement of the terms upon which the county
bonds are to be issued and delivered to said company, in case
such election shall result in favor of such subscriptions by
the county, and the statement shall be entered of record in
the order book of the county court at the time of ordering
the election, and a copy of the same shall be furnished by
the clerk of said court for publication, which shall be pub-
lished in some newspaper, to be designated by the county
judge, for four consecutive weeks before such election is held.

7. The said Blue Ridge mineral railway company may ac-
quire lands by purchase, to an amount not exceeding twenty-
five thousand acres in any one county, and may own, use.
occupy, sell, and improve the same at its pleasure: provided
that it shall dispose of such lands in twenty years from the
passage of this act.

8. Said company may build and construct such branch
roads and tramroads, as will connect the mineral lands and
deposits of the adjacent country with the main line of its
road, and shall have the right to develop mineral lands for
the purpose of furnishing tonnage to its road.

9. By the acceptance of this charter, said company agrees
to pay all its taxes in lawful money and not in coupons.

10. The work of constructing said railroad shall be com-
menced in two years from the passage of this act, and the
main line shall be completed in five years from the same
date; and the general assembly reserves the right to revoke.
alter, or modify this charter at its pleasure.

11. This act shall be in force from its passage.