Chap. 321.—An ACT to Incorporate the Shenandoah River Boom and
Dam Improvement Company.

Approved March 23, 1872.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
John J. Thompson, John Todd, Jacob C. Heiston, Clem Coop-
er, Jacob Staub, Daniel Welsh, and their associates and suc-
cessors, be and they are hereby constituted a body corporate
and politic, by the name and style of the Shenandoah River
Boom and Dam Improvement Company, and by that name may
sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, have a common seal,
to be altered by them at pleasure, make by-laws not repugnant
to the laws of this state or of the United States for the man-
agement of their corporate concerns, and have and enjoy all
the rights of a corporation. .

2. The capital stock of said company shall not be less than
ten thousand dollars, to be divided into shares of ten dollars
each, which may at any time hereafter, by vote of the stock-
holders, be creased to any amount not exceeding fifty thou-
sand dollars, and each share thereof shall entitle the holder to
one vote in all meetings of the stockholders, to be given either
in person or by proxy. And for the purpose of obtaining sub-
scriptions to the said capital stock, or so much thereof as may
be necessary for the lawful purposes of said corporation, books
shall be opened under the direction of the persons named in
the first section of this act, of a majority of them, at such time
and place as the persons who act in that behalf shall deem
expedient; and in case the company organizes before a suffi-
cient amount is subscribed to the said capital stock for the
lawful purposes of said corporation, the president and directors
thereof shall have authority and power at any time thereafter,
and without opening new books of subscription, to receive
further subscriptions to said capital stock until the full amount
authorized by this act is subscribed.

3. The said corporation is authorized and empowered to
erect and maintain, on the Shenandoah river, between the
Orange, Alexandria and Manassas railroad and the Shenandoah
mountains, such boom or booms, dam or dams, with or without
piers, as may be necessary for the purpose of stopping and
securing logs, masts, spars, and other timber; and to erect
such piers and side branch or shear booms on said river, or
any of its tributaries between the points above mentioned, as
may be necessary for that purpose, and also to erect and main-
tain branch or shear booms at any point or points on the said
Shenandoah river and its tributaries above said railroad: pro-
vided, that said booms and dams be so constructed as to admit
the safe passage of rafts, and not prevent the navigation of
said river; but no person or persons shall be allowed at any
time to encroach upon or encumber said booms with boats or
rafts, either of saw-logs or other timber.

4. The said corporation is authorized and empowered to
purchase and hold lands, to sell and convey real estate, to
engage in mining and manufacturing, and erect and maintain
wharves on the said Shenandoah river at any point above said
railroad.

5. That if any person or persons suffer damage by the exer-
cise of powers herein granted to said corporation, and the
amount thereof cannot be agreed upon by the parties, nor by
some suitable person or persons selected by the parties to esti-
mate the same, the circuit court of the county where the boom
or booms, piers or wharves, are situated, shall, upon application
of the party aggrieved, cause said damages to be ascertained
by three disinterested freeholders of the same county, who

art shall make report to said court on or before the first day of the

term next after the award shall have been made, and which,
being confirmed by the court, shall have the effect of a judg-
ment from the time of such confirmation: provided, that the
said corporation shall, before commencing operations under the
provisions of this act, execute bond before the county or circuit
court of Rockingham county, with security approved by the
court, in the penalty of five thousand dollars, payable to the
commonwealth of Virginia, and conditioned to pay all damages
and costs awarded against it under this act.

6. That if any person or persons shall wilfully and mali-
ciously injure or destroy any of said booms or piers, or other
works connected therewith, or shall remove, alter or deface any
mark or marks on any logs or other timber intended for said
booms or contained therein, he or they shall pay the full amount.
of the damages to the corporation, to be recovered by action
at law, and further to be liable to indictment and prosecution
before the courts of the county in which the offence is com-
mitted for a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be sentenced
to pay a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars, and to suffer
imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year. The
said company shall not be liable for any loss or damage that
may be caused by fire or flood, or by the unlawful act of any
person or persons not in their employ.

7. That it shall be the duty of the corporation to cause the
passage ways or open spans of said booms to be carefully
guarded, so that no timber be permitted to escape; to raft all
timber in said booms securely and faithfully, with suitable
warps and wedges for rafting and securing the same, below
said booms. And after three days’ notice shall have been given
by the corporation to the owner or agent having charge of said
logs; and if the owner or agent, at the expiration of the time
aforesaid, has not removed the said logs, the corporation may
remove the same to some convenient place, at the shore of the
stream below, and fasten the float of logs to the shore by ropes
and stakes, and the owner or owners thereof shall pay such
expenses a8 may arise in the removal and securing or fastening
the same to the shore in the manner aforesaid; but the corpo-
ration shall not be responsible for any loss or damage through
the neglect or carelessness of their agents that may ensue to
the owner or owners aforesaid who shall not have removed
their logs before the expiration of the time aforesaid.

8. That it shall and may be lawful for said corporation to
deliver the saw logs and other timber, which may come into
their said booms, to the owners thereof, and to charge and col-
lect toll, or boomage, upon the saw logs and other. timber
boomed or rafted and secured, including warps and wedges by
which they are rafted, to wit: not exceeding one dollar per
thousand feet, board measure, for all board logs, square timber,
spars, clapboards, bolts,andothertimber. Thecorporation shall
havea lien on allsawlogsand othertimber and lumber thus boomed
for the payment of all tolls, or boomage, and other expenses,
until such times as the same shall be paid to the corporation.

9. That if any timber shall have been boomed, rafted and
secured as aforesaid, and no person shall appear to claim the
same and pay the tolls thereon, it shall be lawful for the cor-
poration, after advertising the same for four weeks in some
newspaper published in the county of Rockingham, specifying
in said advertisement the marks thereon, to sell said timber to
the best advantage, and at any time within one year from said
sale the owner shall be entitled to receive the avails thereof,
after deducting the tolls, expenses and necessary charges; but
if not claimed within the said one year, the proceeds shall issue
to and be vested in said corporation for their own use.

10. That, for the purposes aforesaid, the said corporation
shall be and is hereby authorized and empowered to purchase,
hold and possess any real estate adjacent to said boom or
booms, or convenient thereto, with the right to erect all such
buildings as may be necessary for the convenient management
of its affairs; and, for the same purposes it is hereby empowered
to condemn, in accordance with law, the lands on the shore of
said river and the tributaries thereof, so faras may be necessary, at
the place or places where said booms or piers and dams are
erected, and at such other place or places as may be necessary
for rafting and securing saw logs and other timber, and to pass
and re-pass to and from said booms and piers over the lands on
both sides of said river and branches thereof, for the purpose
of making repairs from time to time, and generally for doing
all matters and things necessary for the full accomplishment of
the objects and purposes of the corporation, subject, however,
to pay such damages as may arise in the prosecution of such
objects, the damages, if any, to be ascertained and determined
as in the fifth section of this act.

11. That all timber rafted out of said booms, or any of the
branches thereof, shall be counted or measured, and its quan-
tity ascertained, by some competent person or persons, to be
appointed by the company and confirmed by the court of the
county in which said booms are located.
| 12. That it shall not be lawful for any person or persons to
take up and raft any floating saw logs, or other timber, within
five miles above and below said boom or booms, without being
subject to the same charges for saw logs and other timber,
boomed, rafted and delivered by said corporation, as in section
eight of this act, to be collected from the person or persons
taking up and rafting said logs from the owner or owners
thereof, at the option of the corporation, as debts of like amount
are by law recoverable.

13. That should any boards, logs, or other timbers, marked
and registered in the office of the company, be carried by the
winds, by the force of the current, or otherwise, into any bays,
creeks, coves, or upon the shore, or any bar or flat lands, it
shall be a penal offence for any person or persons, except the
owners thereof, to take possession of, sell or convert to his or
their own use said logs or timber, punishable as in the sixth
section of this act.

14. The said company shall commence operations within two
years from the passage of this act.

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