CHAP. 390.—An ACT to incorporate the Rappahannock boom and
improvement company.

Approved February 28, 1890.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That T. F. Stonebraker, William Nelson, Thomas Sollade,
George T. Downing, Jacob Sollade, and Vespasian Chan-
celler, or such of them as may accept the provisions of
this act, be, and they are hereby, constituted a body cor-
porate under the name and stvle of the Rappahannock
booming and improvement company, and under that name
shall have perpetual succession and a common seal, which
they may alter or amend at pleasure; shall sue and be
sued, implead and be impleaded, contract and be con-
tracted with, and have and exercise all the powers and
privileges of a corporation granted by the general laws of
the commonwealth, not inconsistent with the terms of this
act.

2. The capital stock of said company shall not be less
than five thousand dollars, which may be increased to two
hundred thousand dollars, in shares of twenty-five dollars
each, and the directors may receive real or personal prop-
erty or services in payment of subscriptions, at such val-
uation as may be agreed upon.

3. The said company is authorized and empowered to
purchase, hold, own, lease, and control in any manner,
grant, bargain, sell, mortgage, convey, and otherwise dis-
pose of any real or personal estate, not to exceed twenty
thousand acres in any one county in this state or else-
where; and to lay out said lands, or any part thereof, into
parcels or lots of convenient size, with intervening roads,
lanes, streets, and alleys, and develop, work, improve, and
cultivate, or otherwise use or dispose of the same in such
manner and upon such terme as the said company may
think proper; and the said company may erect, and main-
tain booms upon and across the Rappahannock river, or
upon any of its tributaries, at such point or points within
the state of Virginia as the directors of said company
may determine, so as not to interfere with any already
existing vested rights for the purpose of stopping and se-
curing logs or other lumber and timber floating upon said
river or its tributaries, and may erect piers and side or
branch booms and such other structures and appliances
as the company may deem necesaary for the proper prose-
cution of its business; and the said company, having
erected a boom or booms at any point or points on the
above-mentioned stream, shall thereafter keep the said
boom or booms open and in good order to receive auy and
all logs and other timber and lumber floating down said
river or its tributaries: provided, that after the erection
of a boom upon said stream every person runnihg, driving,
or placing logs in the stream or any of its tributaries above
the point where said boom is located shall affix a distin-
guishing brand or mark upon all and every one of the
logs or pieces of timber placed in said stream, which brand
or mark shall be described and recorded in the clerk’s
office of the county wherein the said boom shall be situ-
ated, and the like descriptions of each person’s brand or
mark shall be furnished to the said company. The said
company shall be entitled to receive as compensation for
catching, securing, and holding said logs, lumber, and
other timber a sum, in the discretion of the company, not
exceeding two dollars per thousand feet, broad measure,
which toll or boomage shall be due and payable within
thirty davs from the time the logs or other lumber is re-
ceived in any of the said company’s booms, and the said
company shall have a lien on each brand or mark of logs
or other lumber received within any of its booms for the
toll or boomage aforesaid, and if the said toll or boomage
shall remain unpaid for over thirty days: after the said
brand or mark of logs shall have been received in the
boom or booms of said company, then the said company
shall advertise the said brands or marks of logs or other
lumber for two weeks in a newspaper published in the
county where the boom is situated, setting forth the kind
and amount of each brand or mark of logs or other lum-
ber, together with the time and place where the said brands
or marks of logs or other Jumber shal]! be sold at public
auction, and from the proceeds, after paying the expenses
of advertising, conducting the sale, and the toll or boom-
age, and all other lawful and proper charges, the residue
if any remain shall be paid to the owner or owners of the
brands or marks sold.

4. The company is hereby authorized and empowered to
drive all logs and other lumber that may be in the stream
above mentioned, or its tributaries, upon which the com-
pany may have executed and is at the time maintaining
a boom or booms, down to and secure the same in the said
boom or booms. For doing such driving and for deliver-
ing and securing said logs or other lumber as aforesaid,
the company shall be entitled to an amount not exceeding
one dollar per thousand feet, board measure, in addition
to the tolls or boomage hereinbefore mentioned: provided,
that the company shall have no authority to take posses-
sion of any raft properly secured or upon which there are
men in charge, except upon the request of the parties in
charge of the same.

5. For the purpose of carrying out the above provisions
the said company shall have the power, right and authority
to clean out the channel of said stream and to remove al]
rocks or trees or other obstructions which may exist in
said stream or upon any island in said stream or upon the
banks thereof, and for the purpose of improving the navi-
gation of said stream it may build dams; provided, they
shall not interfere with the free passage of fish; make
and construct canals or cut-offs, and do whatever may be
necessary to accomplish said purpose.

6. And for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of
this act, and for erecting the said booms, appliances, and
other necessary structures, the said company or any of its
servants or agents, shall have the right to enter upon any
lands alongside or adjacent to said stream, or for the pur-
pose of removing any logs or timber which may have been
floated thereon by high water or advance currents: pro-
vided, that this section shall not be construed as exempt-
ing this company from liability for damage thereon; and
the said company shall have the right to acquire such
tracts of land, not exceeding five acres in any one parcel,
as the company may deem necessary for the transaction
of its business, and if the company and owner, or owners,
thereof cannot agree as to the compensation to be paid for
the said tracts or parcels of land, the matter shall be set-
tled as is provided in chapter fifty-six of the code of Vir-
ginia of eighteen hundred and seventy-three; and for the
purpose of building piers, dams, and other structures, the
company shall have the right to take earth, rock, timber,
or other materials, as is provided in chapter fifty-six of
the code of eighteen hundred and seventy-three, section
twenty-eight, with reference to internal improvement com-
panies.

7. The said company is authorized and empowered to
mine and quarry coal, iron ore, marble, and other mineral
substances, and to prepare and manufacture the same for
use and sale in al] manner of forms it may adopt, and to
manufacture and prepare for market and sale all other
raw materials, mineral or vegetable; and for this purpose
may erect and operate all kinds of furnaces, mills, coke
ovens, works, and machinery necessary for the enjoyment
of the privileges herein granted to the fullest and most
ample extent.

8. The above named corporators, or as many as may
accept the provisions of this act, may act as commission-
ers to receive subscriptions to the capital stock of said
company from individuals or from other corporations or
associations, and whenever five thousand dollars shall
have been subscribed and twenty per centum thereon paid
in, the subscribers may, at the call of said commissioners,
meet, in person or by proxy, somewhere in this state, and
elect six directors. Each stockholder shall be entitled to
cast one vote in every meeting for each share of stock
held.
9. The board of directors shall select a president and ap-
point a secretary and treasurer, and the board shall have
power to manage and control the affairs of the company,
and to adopt such by-laws and regulations as may be en-
acted by the stockholders; and the time, place and man-
ner of holding meetings of the stockholders, the declara-
tion of dividends, and the mode of conducting the busi-
ness of the company shal! be fixed by the by-laws.

10. If any person or persons shall wilfully and malici-
ously, and to the injury of the said company, cut, break,
damage, throw, or destroy any of the company’s booms or
works erected or made under the authority of this act, or
shall remove, deface, or alter the brands or marks upon
any logs or other Jumber in or upon the banks of the afore-
said river or its tributaries, such person or persons shall
be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a
fine not exceeding one hundred dollars and to be confined
in the county jail not exceeding one year.

11. The corporation shall not be liable for the loss of
any logs or other lumber which may pass out of or by said
boom or booms, or escape therefrom, unless such loss is
occasioned by their neglect or default or the neglect or de-
fault of their agents or servants: provided, always, that
said corporation, their agents or servants, shall be bound
to use all due diligence to follow and secure all such logs
or other lumber which may pass out of, by, or escape from
said boom or booms.

12. The said company shall have the right to build
tramways or railroads to connect their booms, lands, man-
ufactories or other works with the nearest railroad.

13. Any other company or corporation may subscribe to
the capital stock of said company.

14. No stockholder shall ever be held liable for the j in-
debtedness of said company in a sum greater than that
due from him on stock subscribed by him.

15. This charter shall be subject to alteration, amend-
ment, or repeal by the general assembly of Virginia.

16. All taxes, dues and demands due the state shall be
,paid in lawful money of the United States and not in
coupons.

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