Chap. 97.—An ACT to incorporate the Virginia mining company.
Appreved April 28, 1887.

1. Be'it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
John C. Green, James A. Waller, Evans R. Dick, Joseph I.
Doran, Martin Williams, Charles G. Eddy, W. H. Bolling, W.
C. Bullitt, P. L. Terry. or such of them as may accept the
provisions of this act, their associates and successors, be, and
they are hereby incorporated and made a body politic and
corporate under the name and style of the Virginia mining
company, and by that name shall be known in law and shall
have perpetual succession, and have power to sue and be sued,
plead and be impleaded, defend and be detended in all courts,
whether in law or in equity, and may make and have a com-
mon seal, and alter or renew the same at pleasure, and shall
have, enjoy, and exercise all the rights, powers, and = privi-
leges pertaining to corporate bodies and necessary for the
purposes of this act. and make by-laws and rules, and regu-
lations consistent with the existing laws of the State, for the
government of all under its authority, the management of its
estate and properties. and the due and orderly conduct of its
affairs.

2. The capital stock of the said Company shall not be less
than fifty thousand dollars, and may be increased to any
amount not excecding two millions tive hundred thousand
dollars by issue and sale of shares, the par value of which
shall not be less than fitty dollars, from time to time, under
such regulations as the board of directors of said company
shall from time to time prescribe; and the directors may
reccive real or personal property suited to the business of the
company in payment of subscriptions to the capital stock, at
such valuations as may be agreed upon between the directors
and subscribers.

3. The said company is authorized and empowered to mine
coal, iron ore, or other minerals; to prepare the producta
thereof for market; to make coke, and transport and sell the
same; to manufacture iron and steel and other metals and arti-
cles composed wholly or partly of iron and steel and other metals
or wood; to bore for salt, oil or gas,and manufacture, transport.

and refine the same, and to sell and dispose of the same; and
to erect blast furnaces, rolling mills, forges, mills, machinery,
fixtures, buildings, and the necessary appliances and appur-
tenances required in the conduct of their business; and to
make leases or contracts for these, or any of these purposes;
and the said company shall have the right from time to time
to purchase, lease, hold, and control in any manner, grant.

bargain, sell, and convey iron ore, mineral and limestone and
other lands and rights, and interest in lands situate in the
counties of Bland, Wythe, and Smyth, and the counties ad-

jacent thereto in the State of Vi irginia, not exceeding, how-
ever, thirty thousand acres of land in any one county; to lay
out, develop, and improve the same, and the said company
may locate, construct, and operate a line of railroad or rail-

roads from any of its land or works to any point on any rail-

road now or hereafter constructed im or to the said counties

in which it is authorized to hold lands: provided nothing
herein contained shall be considered as exempting the com-
pany from the provisions of chapter sixty-one of the Code of
eighteen hundred and seventy-three, if it shall engage in the
construction or operation of any railroad; and the said com-
pany may acquire by condemnation, in the mode prescribed
by law, the lands necessary for the right of way of its. rail-
road and necessary stations and depots.

4, The persons first named in this act, or such of them as
shall accept the provisions thereof, shall constitute the first
board of directors of the said company, and shall continue in
office until the first mecting of the stockholders thereof. At
such first meeting, and at every annual meeting, so many dl-
rectors shall be elected as may be prescribed by the by-laws
and regulations of said company, who may be removed by
the stockholders in general meeting; but, unless so removed,
shall continue in oftice until their successors shall be elected
and qualified. Jeach stockholder in the company shall, at all
meetings or elections thereatter, be entitled to one vote for

each share of’ stock registered in his name.

5. The board of directors shall be stockholders of said
company. They shall appoint one of their number presi-
dent, and may fill any vacancy that may occur in said board,
unless by removal; in which case. the same sball be filled by
the stockholders in gencrai meeting. Whenever the mini-
mum amount of capital stock herein named shall have been
subscribed, and the board of directors shall have elected a
president, said company shall be considered legally organized,
and may proceed to the transaction of business. The board
shall appoint, to hold during its pleasure, the subordinate
officers and agents of said company, prescribe their compensa-
tions, and take from them such bonds with such security as
they may deci fit.
6. The board of directors may establish offices and agen-

cies at such places as they may deem proper, but the princi-
pal office of the company shall be located at some point
within the limits of the State or Virginia.
7. The annual meeting of the stockholders of the said
company shall be held at Wytheville, Wythe county, in Vir-
ginia, on the first Wednesday of May of each vear, or as
soon thereafter as practicable; and on such other day, and at
such other place, as the stockholders may, by reselution
adopted in any annual mecting, to take effeet at the next
annual meeting. prescribe, A general meeting of the stock-
holders of the said company may be held at any time, as pro-
vided for by the tenth section of chapter fitty-seven of the
Code ot Virginia, edition of eighteen hundred and seventy-
three.

& The said eompany shall issue certificates of stock in
said company to subscribers therefor, in shares of not less
than fitty. dollars each, sigued by the president and counter
signed by the secretary of said company. The said certifi-

cates shall be transferable only upon the books ot the com-

pany by the said subscribers. their personal representatives,
or duly authorized agent or attorney; and the said certifi-
Cates, When so transferred as atoresaid, may be returned to
the said company and cancelled, and new certificates of stock
shall be issued in licu thereof. to the person entitled thereto
for a like number of shares,

9. It shall be lawful for said company to issue and sell its
bonds, trom time to time. for such sum and on such terms as
its board of directors may deem expedient and proper in the
prosecution of any of its work; and may secure the payment
of said bonds by mortgages or deeds of trust upon all or any
portion of its property “und franchises, Including its franchises
to be a corporation. and the company may reserve the right
to the company or confer on the holder of any bond the right
to convert the principal thereof into the stock of the com-
pany atany time; and it shall be lawful for said company to
subseribe to and bold shares in the capital stock of any rail-
road company or other corporation whenever the board of
directors of the company shall deem it to its interest so to do.

10, No stockholder in said company shall be held lable or
made responsible for its debts and Habilities ina larger or
further stun than the amount of any unpaid balance due to
the said Company for stock subse ribed for by said stockholder,

11. Whenever this corporation shall exercise any of the
privileges conferred by this act, it shall be liable to the same
Waxes | ssmay be imposed by law upon other like corporations

r persons exercising like privileges.

12. ‘This corporation shall be exempted from the terms,
limitations and conditions of section thirty-six of chapter
fifty-seven of the Code of Virginia of eighteen hundred and
seventy-three, for the space of five years from the date of
the passage of this act; and all taxes or debts due the State
by the company, shall be paid in lawful money of the United
States and not in coupons.
13. This act shall be in force from its passage, but the gen-
‘al assembly of the State of Virginia reserves to itself the
right to modify, alter, or repeal this act at any time hereafter.