CHAP. 691.—An ACT to incorporate the Gate City land com.
pany.

Approved March 4, 1890.
1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia

That J. M. Barker, I. P. Kane, William D. Jones, R. R
120 .
Kane, H. S. Kane, J. W. Johnson, and Joseph L. Kelley,
or any of them who may accept the provisions of this act,
their associates and successors, be, and they are hereby,
incorporated and made a body politic and corporate under
the name and style of the Gate City land company; and
hy that name shall be known in law and shall have per-
petual succession, and have power to sue and be sued, plead
and be impleaded, defend and be defended in al} courts,
whether in law or in equity, and may make and have a
common seal and alter or renew the same at pleasure, and
shall have and enjoy al! the rights, 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 fifty thousand dollars, and may be increased to any
amount not exceeding one million dollars, by subscriptions
or 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 such company may
from time to time prescribe; and the directors may re-
celve labor, supplies, materials, lands, water rights, and
other property, real or personal, in payment for subscrip-
tions to the capital stock at such valuation as may be
agreed upon between the directors and the subscribers.

_ 3. The said company is authorized to purchase, acquire.
hold, and convey lands, and interests in lands, in the
county of Scott; such lands, however, held in fee simple,
not to exceed at any one time ten thousand acres; to till,
mine, and to quarry upon the same; to construct, lease,
and sell dwellings, stores, and other buildings; to erect
and maintain bridges and dams, and otherwise use and
develop and improve the same; to grade or improve the
streets; to furnish gas, electric lights, water, or either, to
such persons, firms, or corporations residing or doing busi-
ness at or near Estillville, in Scott county, as may desire
to use the same; to provide, locate, purchase, erect, and
maintain all works necessary to furnish gas, electric lights,
and water works, including pipe-lines and conducts for
the reception and distribution of the same; to construct.
purchase, maintain, and operate street railways with horse
power. steam, or electric power. And the said company is
authorized to lay out any of its lands into lots or parcels,
with streets, alleys, or parks, and may work, improve, and
develop the same, and may sell and dispose of the same
as the said company may think proper; and may contract
for, purchase, lease, hold, construct, operate, or maintain
anv work of internal improvement within ‘the limits of
the lands owned by said company.

4. The said company is authorized and empowered to
mine coal, iron ore, marble, and other mineral substances,
and manufacture the same for use and sale; and may
erect, own, lease, 01 operate furnaces, mills, manufacto-
ries, coke oveng, or other works necessary or expedient to
the enjoyment of the privileges herein. granted; and said
company may acquire, by subscriptions or by purchase,
the stock or bonds of any mining, manufacturing, water,
gas, street railway, or other improvement company within
the limits of the territory before named.

5. The seven persons first named in this act, or such of
them as accept the provisions hereof, shall constitute the
first board of directors of the said company, and shall
continue in office until the first meeting of the stockhold-
ers thereof. At such first meeting, and at every annual
meeting, so many directors shall be elected as may be pre-
scribed by the laws and regulations of said company, who
may be removed by the stockholders in general meeting,
but unless so removed shall continue in office until their
successors shall be elected and qualified. Each stock-
holder in the company shall at all meetings or elections
thereafter be entitled to one vote for each share of stock
registered in his name.

6. 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, the said company shall be
considered legally organized, and may proceed to the trans-
action of business. The board shall appoint, to hold
during its pleasure, the subordinate officers and agents of
said company, prescribe their compensation, and take
from them such bonds, with security, as they may see fit.

7. The board of directors may establish offices and
agencies at such places as they may deem proper, but the
principal office of said company shall be located at some
point within the county of Scott, in this state. 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 thereafter, and at such place as
may be designated by said board, and all annual meetings
of the stockholders thereafter shall be held on the first
Wednesday in May of each year, and at such place as may
be prescribed by 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 tenth section
of chapter fifty-seven of the code of Virginia.

8. 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, sigir:
by the president and countersigned by the secretary of ssi:
company. The said certificate shall be transferable on tt
books of the company by the said subscribers or their p:
sonal representatives or duly authorized agent or attornev
and the said certificate when so transferred as aforesai:
shall be returned to the said company and cancelled at:
new certificates of stock shall be issued in lieu thereof:
the persons entitled thereto, to a like number of shares.

9. It shall be lawful for said company to issue or sell :'.
bonds from time to time for such sum and on such tern:
as its board of directors may deem éxpedient and proy-
in the prosecution of any of its work, and for the purcha:
of lands, and may secure the payment of such bonds 'n
mortgages or deeds of trust upon all or any portion of 1:
property and franchises, including its franchise to be 4
corporation, and may reserve the right to the company »:
confer on any holder of the bonds of the company th
right to convert the principal thereof into stock of tk
company at any time; and it shall be lawful for said com-
pany to subscribe to and hold shares in the capital stock
of any railroad company or other corporation whener:
the board of directors of the company shall deem it to it:
interest to do so, and any such corporation may guaran!
or hold the bonds or the stock of the said company.

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

11. The said company, for the purpose of locating, lar-
ing, constructing, and operating its conduits and pip-
lines, and acquiring the lands and rights of way required
therefor, may enter upon lands and acquire by condemné-
tion, according to the laws of Virginia, the Jands and
rights of way required by the company from time to tin’
therefor.

12. All taxes due the commonwealth by said compan!
shall be paid in lawful money of the United States as«
not in coupons.

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