CHAP. 253.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 2088, 2084
and 2067, of the code of 1887, inrelation to the fishing with pound-
nets in the waters on the eastern side of the Chesapeake bay.

Approved February 17, 1890.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That sections two thousand and eighty-three, two thousand
and eighty-four and two thousand and eighty-seven, of the
code of eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, be amended
and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§2083. It shall be unlawful for any person to fish with a
purse-net or pound-net in any of the rivers of this state,
or within one mile of the mouth of any river, except that
the pound-net may be used in the Piankitank river; or to
fish with purse-nets in creeks or within half a mile of the
shore of the Chesapeake bay, within the limits of Eliza-
beth City, Accomac, or Northampton counties, or to set any
pound-nets, or to take fish by means thereof, in any creek
within the counties of Accomac and Northampton, or in
the Chesapeake bay between the first day of May and the first
day of June in any year, on the eastern side of said bay.

§2084. No pound-nets set in any of the waters of this
state shall have meshes less than two inches stretched
measure.
§2087. Any person violating any of the provisions of the
four preceding sections shall, for each offense, be fined not
more than one hundred dollars.

2. All acts or parts of acts in conflict herewith be, and
the same are hereby, repealed.

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

CHap 254.—An ACT to incorporate the Rich Valley railroad
company.

Approved February 17, 1890.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That B. F. Buchanan, of Marion; T. H. Buchanan, Wil-
liam H. Buchanan, J. D. Buchanan, of. Smyth county;
C. B. Thomas and W. L. Yost, of Wytheville; W. A. Stu-
art, of Russell county, and James W. Stuart, of Wythe
county, or such of them as may accept the provisions of
this act, their associates, successors, and assigns, be, and
they are hereby, incorporated and made a body politic and
corporate, under the name and style of the Rich Valley rail-
road company, and by that name shall be known in law,
and as such are authorized and empowered to locate, con-
struct, equip, and operate a railroad commencing at a
point at or near Saltville,in Smyth county; thence up
the Rich Valley or Poor Valley to the Locust Cove plaster
banks, and to such other point in Smyth or Tazewell
county, and by such route as may be deemed most advisa-
ble by the directors of said company: provided, the said
railroad company and its successors shall not have the
right to the exclusive occupancy of any mountain pass in
any of the counties through which it is authorized to con-
struct its road.

2. The said company shall have perpetual succession,
and have power to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded,
defend and be defended in all courts, whether in law or in
equity; and may make and have acommon seal, and alter
or renew the same at pleasure, and shall have,, possess, and
enjoy all the rights and privileges of a corporation or a
body politic in the law and necessary for the purposes of
this act.

3. The capital stock-of said company shall not be less
than fifty thousand dollars, and may from time to time
be increased to any amount not exceeding one million dol-
lars, by issue and sales of shares, the par value of which
shall not be less than fifty dollars from time to time,
under such regulations as the board of directors of said
company shall from time to time prescribe; and the direc-
tors may receive cash, labor, material, bonds, stocks, real or
personal property in payment of subscriptions to the capi-
tal stock at such valuation as may be agreed upon between
the directors and the subscribers, and may make such sub-
scriptions payable in such manner or amounts and at such
times a8 may be agreed upon with the subscribers.

4, It shall be lawful for said company to borrow money
and issue and sell its bonds from 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 ofits
work, and may secure the payment of said bonds by mort-
gages or deeds of trust upon all or any portion of its
property, real, personal, and mixed, its covenants, con-
tracts, and privileges, and its chartered rights and fran-
chises, including its franchise to be a corporation; and it
may, as the business of the company may require, sell or
lease, convey, and encumber the same.

5. The said company is authorized and empowered to
locate, construct, equip, and operate an extension to a point
in Bland county, and also lateral or branch roads, from
any point or points on its line to any point or points in
Smyth, Bland and Tazewell counties, in order to afford the
public transportation facilities, and to connect any mine
or other operation : provided, however, that no branch
hereby authorized shall be built, nor the right of way
acquired for such branch, till after the main line is con-
structed and is ready for the running of trains on such
line as the company may adopt for its main line, or to con-
nect the said line with that of any other railroad now or
hereafter to be constructed in any of the counties; and
the said company may connect or unite its road with that
of any other company, or consolidate and merge its stock,
property, and franchises with those of any other dompany
operating or authorized to operate a connecting line of
railroad, upon such terms and under such name as may
be agreed upon between the companies so uniting or con-
necting, merging or consolidating; and for that purpose
power is hereby given to it and to such other company or
companies to make and carry out such contracts as will
facilitate and consummate such connection, merger, or
consolidation: provided, that a copy of every such con-
tract of consolidation and merger shal! be filed in the office
of the board of public works: provided, that should this
company ever consolidate with any foreign company, the
consolidating company shall always remain a Virginia
corporation as regards the rights of suing and being sued.

6. The said company may acquire by condemnation,
according to the mode provided by the laws of Virginia,
the lands, property, and rights required for the right of way
of its railroad, and the necessary stations and depots for its
operation; and for such purposes the company may, when
or where necessary, take and condemn in the mode pro-
vided by the laws of Virginia, in regard to the condemna-
tion of lands for any work of public improvement to the
extent only necessary for such purposes, all or any part of
the privileges and franchises of any corporation possess-
ing, or claiming to possess, at the date of such proceedings,
an exclusive right to locate, construct, or operate a rail-
road within the territory, or any part thereof, in which the
line of the Rich Valley railroad company or any part may
be located.

7. The said company shall be required to commence the
construction of the said railroad within two years from
the passage of this act, and to complete the construction
of its main line within five years thereafter, otherwise the
powers, privileges and franchises hereby granted shall be
ipso facto void. .

8. The persons first named in this act, or such of them
as shall accept the provisions thereof, shall have the power
and authority of a president and board of directors for the
purpose of organization and for all other purposes. They
shall continue in office until their successors shall be
elected and qualified. Each stockholder in the company
shall at all meetings or elections be entitled to one vote
for each share of stock registered in his name.

9. 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 shall be
filled by the stockholders in general meeting. Whenever
the minimum amount of the capital stock shall have been
ssbscribed, and the board of directorsshall have elected a
president, said company shall be considered legally organ-
ized, and may proceed to the transaction of business.

10. The board of directors may establish offices and
agencies at such places as they may deem proper, but the
principal office of the company shall he located at some
point within the limits of the state of Virginia.

11. Whenever the corporation shall exercise any of the
privileges conferred by this act, it shall be liable to the
same taxes as may be imposed by law upon other like cor-
porations or persons exercising like privileges, and all
taxes due the commonwealth by said company shal] be paid
in lawful money of the United States and not in coupons.

12. This act shall be in force from its passage, but the
general assembly of the state of Virginia reserves to itself
the right to modify, alter or repeal this act at any time
hereafter.