Chap. 567.—An ACT to incorporate the Shenandoah and North River electric
railway company.

Approved March 3, 1804.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That John
V. Click, A. R. Hollen, N. G. Douglass, P. D. Fahrney, G. W. Thomas,
dgar L. Miller, M. D. Miller, G. W. Berlin, and those who may be-
ome associated with them, and their successors, be and they are
ereby, constituted a body politic and corporate under the name and
tyle of the Shenandoah and North River electric railway company,
nd by that name shall have perpetual ‘succession and a common
2al, sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded in law or equity, and
hall enjoy and exercise al] the rights, powers and privileges pertain-
ig to coporations, corporate bodies and to natural persons, necessary
or the purposes of this act.

2. And the said company shall have power and authority to locate,
onstruct, equip, maintain and operate a standard gauge railwa
rom some point on the Shenandoah valley branch of the Norfol
nd Western railroad, at or near Elkton or Shenandoah city, by the
ay of Harrisonburg and Prrdgewater to some point on the Virginia
ind West Virginia state line in the counties of Rockingham, Au-
yusta or Highland, Virginia, and to construct, equip and operate
oranches to said road, not exceeding twenty miles in length, and form
connections with other railroads.

3. And it shall be lawful for said company to transport passengers,
freight and baggage, and the mails of the United States, on said
road, and to collect fares and tolls for the same, and to use horses,
steam, electric or any other mechanical power to propel the cars on
said road.

4. The said company shall have the power to establish and maintain
in said counties at any point or points on or near the line of said
road, where necessary, one or more electric plants for the purpose of
furnishing electric light, powerand traction for the purposes of said
road, and for the public and to private individuals, corporations and
other roads, and to put and operate telegraph and telephone lines
along the line of said road.

5. The said company shal] have power to acquire and hold such
real estate and personal property as may be necessary for the proper
use and successful carrying out of the purposes and business of said
company, and shall have the right to enter, by its agents, upon and
cause to be condemned such lands as may be needed for said pur-
poses, in the mode and manner provided and prescribed by law for
the condemnation of lands in Virginia for works of internal im-
provements; and for its purposes may use the road of any turnpike
company, with the consent of such company, or any county road, with
the consent of the county court of such county.

6. It shall be lawful for said company to issue bonds for the con-
struction and equipment of its road, and to secure the payment of
the principal and interest of the same by mortgages or deeds of trust
on its property and franchises.

7. Subscriptions to the capital stock of said company may be
made in money, materials, labor or lands, and said company may
also acquire lands, by gift or purchase, and shall have power to have,
hold or sell the same: provided that the amount or quantity of lands
shall not exceed five thousand acres. And the commission and the
directors may receive labor, supplies, materials, lands, rights of way,
water rights and other property, real or personal, in payment of sub-
scriptions to the capital stock of said company, at such valuation as
shall be agreed upon between the directors or commission and the
subscribers. The capital stock of said company shall not be less
than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars nor more than five hun-
dred thousand dollars, to be divided into shares of fifty dollars each,
and may be increased from time to time as the stockholders may de-
termine, and each share of stock shall be entitled to one vote.

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

9. And the said M. D. Miller and J. W. Click are hereby author-
ized and created a commission to receive subscriptions for stock,
and for this purpose they may open books of subscription in such
manner as they may deem proper, and may keep them open until the
aforesaid incorporators and other persons shall have subscribed the
minimum amount of the capital stock aforesaid or more; and there-
after, within their discretion, they may call a meeting of the stock-
holders, who may proceed to organize the company. General or
special meetings of the stockholders may he had on notice of the
time and place of such meetings, given to each stockholder in person
or by writing mailed to his address at his usual post-office, ten days
prior to such meeting, or by publication of such notice in some news-
paper of general circulation published in said county of Rocking-
ham, Virginia, for two weeks prior to the date of such meeting. The
board of directore of said company may appoint, or authorize to be
appointed, such subordinate agents and officers of the company as
they may deem necessary for the proper discharge of the business of
said company.

10. The officers of said company shal! consist of a president, vice-
president, secretary and treasurer and a board of nine directors, who
shall be stockholders in said company, and shall be elected by the
stockholders of said company, but the said president and directors
may fill any vacancy that may occur in said board, unless by removal,
in which case the same shal! be filled by the stockholders in general
meeting; and whereas the minimum amount of the capital stock
herein named has been subscribed; and whereas the president, vice-
president, secretary and treasurer and the board of directors have
been elected by the stockholders, said company shall be considered
as legally organized, and may proceed to the transaction of business
as soon as this act shall have been passed—the officers of said com-
pany so elected by said stockholders for the first year being as fol-
lows: Martin D. Miller, president; A. R. Hollen, vice-president; J.
W. Click, treasurer; G. W. Thomas, secretary; and P. D. Fahrney,
Edgar L. Miller, N. G. Douglas, G. W. Berlin, M. D. Miller, J. W.
Click, A. R. Hollen, G. W. Thomas, and one other whom the stock-
holders may elect to constitute the board of directors of said company.

11. The work on said -road shall be commenced in good faith and
completed in one year from the passage of this act from Harri-
sonburg to Bridgewater, and to the Norfolk and Western railroad
within three years, and the whole line westward within five years.

12. Said corporation shall pay all debts, dues and demands of the
state of Virginia against it in lawful money of the United States,
and not in coupons.

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