CHAP. 357.—An ACT to incorporate the Valley street railway
company of Big Stone Gap.

Approved February 24, 1890.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That R. A. Ayers, William McGeorge, junior, W. D. Jones,
Josiah Ryland, J. B. F. Mills, James W. Fox, R. C. Bal-
lard Thurston, R. B. Whitridge, H.C. McDowell, J. F. Bul-
litt, junior, and H. C. McDowell, junior, their associates,
successors and assigns, be, and they are hereby, made and
declared a body politic and corporate by the name and
style of the Valley street railway company, and by that
name shall be known in law, and have and enjoy all the
powers and privileges pertaining to corporate bodies and
to natural persons necessary for the purposes of this act.

2. The capital stock of said company shall not be less
than twenty-five thousand dollars, and may be increased
to any amount not exceeding five hundred thousand dol-
lars by the issue and sale of shares, the par value of which
shall not be less than one hundred dollars, from time to
time, under such regulations and upon such terms and at
such price as the board of directors of said company may
from time to time prescribe; and the directors may re-
ceive labor, supplies, material, lands, rights of way, and
other property, real or personal, in payment for subscrip-
tions to the eapital stock at such valuation as may be
agreed upon between the directors of said company and
the subscribers.

3. The said company is authorized to construct, equip,
maintain and operate one or more lines of street railway
in the town of Big Stone Gap, Wise county, Virginia, and
in Wise county, near said town: provided, that no line
shall be constructed over or through any street in the part
of said town shown on a map of Big Stone Gap, marked
‘“‘ [mprovement company’s plat number one, or the Imboden
reservation,” unless and until the town council of said
town shall give its consent thereto. Such line or lines of
railway may be operated by horse, steam, electric, or other
motive power, and may transport passengers or freight, or
both, and for-such rates of toll as the directors of said
company may decide upon.

4. The said company may acquire by condemnation, ac-
cording to the laws of Virginia, the lands required for its
right of way, the necessary stations, engine-houses, stables
or terminal facilities, et cetera. The said company may
connect or unite its line or lines of railway with any other
street or belt railway to be hereafter built in or around
said town of Big Stone Gap, or consolidate its stock, prop-
erty, or franchises with those of any other such street or
belt railway company, upon such terms as may be agreed
upon between the boards of such companies so uniting or
consolidating, and for such purpose power is hereby given
to it and to such other company or companies to make and
carry out such contracts as will facilitate such connection
or consolidation. Said company is authorized to cross at
at grade, or above or below grade, any railroad of any kind
within the town limits of said town or within five miles
thereof at any point.

5. Said company may acquire by subscription, purchase,
or otherwise, the stock or bonds of any other incorporated
company; and it shall be lawful for said company to issue
or sell its bonds from time to time, for such sums and
upon such terms as its board of directors may deem expe-
dient and proper, and may secure the payment of said
bonds by mortgages or deeds of trust upon all or any por-
tion of its property and franchises, including its franchise
to be a corporation, and may reserve the right to the com-
pany or confer on the holder of any bonds of said com-
pany the right to convert the principal thereof into stock
of the said company at any time; and any other incorpo-
rated company may, by purchase, subscription, or other-
wise, obtain, hold or transfer the stock or bonds or both
of said companies.

6. The following persons, to wit: R. A. Ayers, James W.
Fox, J. B. F. Mills, J. F. Bullitt, junior,and H. C. Mc-
Dowell, junior, shall constitute the first board of directors
of said company, one of whom shall be elected by the
board president of said company; said board and the per-
son thusyglected president to hold office only until the first
meeting of stockholders of said company. At such first
meeting, and at every annual meeting, so many directors
shall be elected as may be prescribed by the laws and regu-
lations of said company, who may be removed by the stock-
holders in general meeting; but unless so removed shall
continue in office until their successors shall be elected.
and qualified. Each stockholder in the company shall at
all meetings or elections thereafter be entitled to one vote
for each share of stock registered in bis name.

7. 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 a removal, in which case the same shall
be filled by the stockholders in general meeting. When-
ever the minimum 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 com-
pany, prescribe their compensation, and take from them
such bonds, with security, as they may see fit.

8. The board of directors may establish offices and agen-
cies at such places as they may deem proper, but the prin-
cipal office of said company shall be located in the town
of Big Stone Gap. The first meeting of the stockholders
shall be called by the board of directors herein named, to
be held after the minimum amount of stock shall have
been subscribed, and at any time within six months there-
after, and at such place as may be designated by the said
board, and all annual meetings of stockholders thereafter
shall be held on the first Thursday in May of each year,
and at such place as may be prescribed in the by-laws of the
said company. A general meeting of the stockholders of
said company will be held at any time, as provided for in
the one thousand one hundred and fourteenth section of
the code of Virginia of eighteen hundred and eighty-
seven.

9. The said company shall issue certificates of stock in
said company to the subscribers or purchasers thereof, in
shares of not less than one hundred dollars each, signed
by the president and countersigned by the secretary of
said company. The said certificates shall be transferable
on the books of the company only by said subscribers,
their personal representatives or duly authorized agent or
attorney, and the said certificates, when so transfered as
aforesaid, shal] be returned to said company and cancelled
and new certificates of stock shall be issued in lieu thereof
to the persons entitled thereto to a like number of shares.

10. No stockholder in said company shall be held or
made responsible for its debts and liabilities in a larger or
further sum than the amount of any unpaid balance due
to the said company for stock subscribed for by said stock-
holders.

11. All taxes due to the commonwealth by said com-
pany shall be paid in lawful money of the United States
and not in coupons.

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