CHAP. 150.—An ACT incorporating the Riverton bridge com-
pany in Warren county.

Approved February 3, 1890.

Whereas the bridges erected by the Front Royal and
Winchester turnpike company across the north and south
branches of the Shenandoah river at Riverton, in Warren
county, were destroyed during the late war, and have not
been rebuilt; and whereas the said rivers at Riverton are
frequently impassable by reason of high water or ice, and
when not absolutely impassable are dangerous of passage
by reason of high water or ice; and whereas there is much
public necessity at all times for the passage of said streams
at said point, and the resources of the said county of War-
ren or the magisterial districts thereof are not such at this
time as to enable them to rebuild said bridges ; and whereas
toll-bridges at said points cannot be built and operated by
private individuals or joint-stock company so as to give
reasonable return for the money invested so long as the
fords of said rivers at said points are allowed to remain
open for public travel; therefore,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That Samuel Carson, F. W. Lehew, E. M. Burchard, M. L.
(xarrison, 8. 8. Turner, H. H. Downing, C. W. Dorsey, and
J. W. Morgan, and such other persons as may be hereafter
associated with them, he, and they are hereby, created a
corporation under the lawsof this state by the name of the
Riverton bridge company, for the purpose of constructing
and operating a toll-bridge across each of said streams at
Riverton, in Warren county, on the sitesof the bridges
destroyed as aforesaid.

2. The capital stock of said company shall be seven
thousand five hundred dollars, in shares of twenty-five
dollars each, and the stock may be increased at any time
by the stockholders in general meeting to an amount not
exceeding fifteen thousand dollars.

3. When stock to the amount of seven thousand five
hundred dollars shall have been subscribed, payable at
such time as the corporators hereinbefore mentioned shall
have fixed before the stock is subscribed, after two weeks’
notice given by the said corporators and printed in some
newspaper in Warren county, stating the time and place
of meeting, the said company may organize by choosing
from the stockholders five persons to be directors of said
company, one of which directors, chosen by the others,
shall be president of the company. There shall he ap-
pointed by the directors a treasurer and secretary. One
person may act as both secretary and treasurer, and he
shall serve during the pleasure of the directors. The
directors shal] continue in office for a term of one year
and until their successors are chosen.

4. There shall be an annual meeting of the stockholders
on the first Saturday in March of each year for the elec-
tion of directors and for the transaction of such other
business as may be proper for their action. There may
also be other meetings of the stockholders at such time as
they may be called by the directors or by five stockholders,
two weeks’ notice of the time and place of such meeting
to be given by publication in some newspaper in Warren
county. The proceedings of all the meetings of stock-
holders and directors shall be entered in a well-bound
book, be preserved, and be open to the inspection of any
stockholder.

5. The said company shall have the right to purchase
and acquire, by deed from the present owners, the said
bridge sites, abutments, piers, and approaches thereto set
out and conveyed in a deed from James Purcell and others
to H. H. Downing, trustee, of date the second day of Sep-
tember, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and of record
in Warren county, in deed-book R, page four hundred and
forty-eight; and the conveyance and transfer of the same
by the Front Royal and Winchester turnpike company to
Edmund Purcell, and by him to James Purcell and others,
and by them to said H. H. Downing, trustee as aforesaid,
are hereby declared to be valid and effectual. The said
company shall also have the right to acquire by condemna-
tion, if necessary, two lots or parcels of land not exceed-
ing one-half acre each, near said bridge sites for the erec-
tion of toll-houses thereon, and to erect toll-houses
thereon.
6. When stock in said company to the amount of seven
thousand five hundred dollars shall have heen paid in.
whether in money, or partly in money and partly in said
bridge sites and appurtenances at a fair value, then the
said company may proceed to erect said bridges.

7. If more money than seven thousand five hundred
dollars be needed to construct and complete said bridges
and approaches and toll-houses, then the directors of said
company are hereby authorized, whenever directed so to
do by the stockholders at any meeting called for the pur-
pose, to borrow not exceeding seven thousand five hundred
dollars for the purpose of completing said works, and to
issue the bonds of the company for the same in sums of
one hundred dollars or multiples thereof. signed bv the
president and secretary and sealed with the seal of the
company, bearing interest at the rate of interest not ex-
ceeding six per centum per annum, the interest payable
semi-annually, and the bonds themselves payable in
twenty years from their date, or at the option of the said
company or their assigns at any time after five vears.
And as security for the payment of said bonds and inter-
est, the said directors may execute a first mortgage lien
on said bridges and appurtenances and on all the fran-
chises of said company. The said bonds shall not be
negotiated by said directors at a less price than their face
value.

8. When said bridges, or either of them, shall have been
completed and open for travel, and so declared by the
county court of Warren, as provided in section one thou-
sand three hundred and ninety of the code of eighteen
hundred and eightv-seven, the said company shall have
the right to collect toll for passage on said bridges or
bridge, as the case may be: provided that the construction
of one of said bridges shall not release the said company
from the obligation to build the other.

9. After the completion and opening of said bridges for
travel as aforesaid, and so long as they shall continue
open for travel, if shall not be lawful for any person to
ford either of said rivers at any point within half a mile
of either of said bridges; and any person so fording at
any such point shall he subject to a fine of not exceeding
ten dollars for each offense, recoverable in the same man-
ner as other fines: provided, that persons owning land
on both sides of either of said rivers and abutting on the
river within half a mile of either of said bridges, shall
have the right to ford in going to and from their land
without a violation of this act.

10. The rate of toll which may be charged for the pass-
age of each of said bridges shall not exceed the follow-
ing: For each person on foot, three cents; for each
horse, mule, or work ox, including the driver or rider, tive
cents; for each wheeled vehicle, including the occupants,
five cents per wheel, except engines weighing over five
thousand pounds, which may be ten cents per wheel; for
each head of neat cattle, three cents; for each sheep or
hog, one cent: provided, that the said rates may be in-
creased or diminished by the county court of Warren in
manner as provided in section thirteen hundred and sev-
enty-nine of the code of eighteen hundred and eighty-
seven.

11. The county of Warren, or any one or more of the
magisterial districts thereof, shall have the right at any
time after the completion of said bridges to purchase the
same and all the appurtenances and franchises thereof of
the said Riverton bridge company or its assigns, on the
payment by said county or said districts to the owners of
said bridges and appurtenances and franchises the first cost
of their construction and all debts of said company; and
the said company or its assigns shall be bound to sell and
convey the same to said county, or any one or more of the
districts thereof, on the payment of the said first cost and
the debts of said company.

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