Chap. 620.—An ACT to incorporate the Maryland and central Virginia railroad
company.

Approved March 1, 1898,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That E. V.
White, Henry Fairfax, John F. Ryan, John H. Alexander, William R.
Alexander, T. C. Pilcher, Geo. W. Settle, 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 Maryland and central
Virginia railroad company.

2. The said railway company is authorized and empowered to locate,
construct, equip and operate with steam, electricity, or any other motive
power, a railroad, commencing at some point in Loudoun county, Vir-
ginia, on the Potomac river opposite the state of Maryland in said
county, and may extend the same to any points in Fauquier, Rappa-
hannock, Culpeper, Page, Madison and Greene counties.

3. The said company shall have perpetual succession, and shall have
the power to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and be
defended, in all courts, whether at law or in equity, in this state; and
may have, make and use a common seal, and the same break, alter and
renew or change at their pleasure, and may make, ordain, establish, alter
or amend such by-laws, ordinances and reyulations concerning all mat-
ters of organization and business not herein specifically provided for as
they may think proper, and generally may do every act and thing neccs-
sary to carry this act into effect or to promote the objects and designs of
the corporation, provided such by-laws, ordinances and regulations, or
acts be not inconsistent with the laws of this state or the United States.

4. The capital stock of said company shall not be less than filty
thousand dollars, and may from time to time be increased to one- -half
million dollars by the issue and sale of shares, preferred or common
stock, or both, upon such terms and conditions and under such regula-
tions as the board of directors of said company may prescribe, the par
value of which shall not be less than one hundred dollars per share ; and
the directors may receive cash, labor, material, bonds, stock, equipment,
rights of way, and other real and personal property in payment of sub-
scriptions to the capital stock at such valuation and at such prices as
may be agreed upon between the directors and the subscribers, and may
make such subscriptions payable in such manner or amounts and at
such times as may be agreed upon with subscribers ; and whenever five
hundred and fifty shares shall have been subscribed to, and the sum of
fifty-five thousand dollars paid in cash, the subscribers, under the direc-
tion of any five of the incorporators hereinbefore named, who themselves
shall be subscribers, may organize the said conipany by electing a presi-
dent and board of directors, and by electing and providing for the
appointment of such other officers as m: ay he 1 necessary for the control
and management of the business and affairs of said company, and there-
upon they shall have and exercise all the powers and functions of a cor-
poration under this charter and the laws of this state.

5. The said company shall be, and is hereby, empowered to promote,
erect, establish, maintain and operate and purchase or sell a plant or
plants in the counties and villages through which it is authorized by
this act to pass in said state, for the generation of electricity and the
supply of the electric current for its own use and for sale to persons,
natural or artificial, desiring to use the same for heat, light or power, or
for any and all other uses to which the electric current may be now or
at any time hereafter applied or applicable; and may manufacture, use
and sell, distribute and furnish the same for all said purposes to all and
any persons, parties and corporations desiring to use the same upon such
terms as may be agreed on between the contracting parties, and to pur-
chase, manufacture and sell all apparatus and appliances used in con-
nection therewith.

6. It may build, purchase, rent or otherwise acquire and maintain
and operate. in streets, alleys, avenues, public highways and waterways
subject only to the consent or authorization thereof by any incorporated
town or city, and subject to the consent or authorization thereof by the
judges of the county courts and boards of supervisors of the several coun-
ties of the state, who are hereby vested with the power so to do, within
and through which its poles, wires, subways, underground conduits and
submarine cables and other electrical conductors may be constructed,
such or any line or lines of poles and wires and of underground con-
duits and subways for the carriage or support of electric wires, with the
necessary fixtures, stations, terminals or other facilities connected therc-
with, as may be necessary ¢ ‘and suitable for the proper, full and conve-
nient carrying on of the business of the company, and the same may sell,

lease and otherwise dispose of as the company may deem best, and may
take and acquire by purchase, condemnation, lease or otherwise; and
may hold and thereafter sell or otherwise dispose of such real estate as
be within the limits or jurisdiction of said cities and counties rerpec-
tively; and the said company may construct, maintain and operate its
railways over bridges already constructed across the rivers and creeks of
the state, subject only to such reasonable limitations and agreements as
to the repair and maintenance of said bridges, or as to the rental of the
privileges of laying tracks on the same, as may be imposed and agreed
to by the persons or corporations owning and controlling the same.

7. The said company may acquire by condemnation according to the
laws of Virginia, the land required fur its roadways, tracks, switches,
sidings, and necessary stations, depot and power plants for its operations,
and such as may be found necessary and convenient for the establish-
ment, erection and maintenance of such lines of poles and wires and
underground conduits and subways, and submarine cables, together with
the necessary fixtures, stations, terminals or other facilities, and for any
other of the purposes and uses of said company; the mode of con-
demninz such real estate being the same, and the same powers being
hereby given to the oflicials and courts of this state in such condemna-
tion as are provided by the laws of Virginia for the condemnation of
Jands by companies incorporated for works of internal improvement.

8. Said corporation shall have power to acquire the water powers on
the Potornac, Rappahannock, Rapidan, Goose creek and Hazel rivers to
generate therewith clectric power for the operation of said railway, and
for other purposes, and to market any excess of power by lease or sale,
and for the purpose of marketing such excess power the said corpora-
tion is authorized and empowered to erect line or lines, conduits, bridges
or subways as may be deemed best, and for the best interests of said
corporation over the highways and lands of individuals or other corpo-
rations from the place where such power is generated to the place where
it Is marketed.

. It shall be lawful for said company to subscribe to, guarantee and
hold the stock and bonds of mining, manufacturing and other corpora-
tions, and any mining, manufacturing and other corporations may sub-
seribe to, guarantee and hold the stoc ‘k and bonds of the said company.
It shall be lawful for the said company to consolidate with, lease or sell
its works, property, franchises and privileges to any other railroad com-
pany, or internal improvement company, and any other such company
ix hereby authorized to purchase the same. And any incorporated com-
pany may, hy purchase or subscription or otherwise, obtain, hold or
transfer the bonds and stock of said company not exceeding the amount
hereinafter limited and provided for.

10. The said company is authorized and empowered to locate, cun-
struct, equip and operate any lateral or branch roads or tramways, not
to exceed twenty miles In length, which a majority of its stockholders
may determine to construct, maintain, equip and operate, and by such
route as may be determined by its board of directors; and the said
company may connect or unite its said roads with that of any other
company or companies, and consolidate and merge its stock, properties
and franchises with and into those of any other company or companies
operating, or authorized to operate, a connecting road, not a competing
line, in this state.

11. The said company may utilize for its purposes steam and water-
power and any other av ailable power, and may purchase, erect, main-
tain and operate, lease, sell and otherwise dispose of all the buildings,
structures, factories, machine- shops and machinery that may be neces-
sary, convenient and suitable for the general business of the company;
may purchase or construct, own, maintain, and operate and _ lease, sell
or otherwise dispose of canal flumes and any other structures or devices
for the utilization of water-power, including water-wheels, dams and
sluices, waterways, wasteways and gates in the beds of the streams and
rivers of the state and through the intervening country: provided, how-
ever, that nothing in this act shall be so construed as to sive this com-
pany the right to acquire any water-power by condemnation. ‘The said
company may take reasonable tolls for transportation of persons or
property, and may purchase, construct, maintain, own, and operate,
lease, sell or otherwise dispose of bridges, viaducts and aqueducts of
wood, stone, iron or other suitable material for its use or for the use of
the public, and may take tolls from persons or corporations using the
same: provided, however, that the councils of said cities and towns,
respectively, and the judges of the county courts and boards of super-
visors of said counties, respectively, who are hereby vested with the
authority so to do, shall consent to the location of said railways on the
streets and highways within their respective limits or jurisdiction; and
all lines of railway built by the said company, or owned and operated
by it, shall be at all times subject to all restrictions, conditions and
limitations of whatsoever nature which may be imposed, respectively,
by the councils of said cities and towns, or by the Judyes of said county

courts, as to so much of said railways ag may be within the limits or
jurisdiction of said cities and counties respectively.

12. The said company shall have power to unite its road with any
road which it may cross upon such terms as may be agreed upon be-
tween them and the company so uniting for the purpose ‘(subject to the
provisions of the general law of this state) and may enter upon said
railroad companies lands with the necessary turnouts, sidings, switches
and conveniences in furtherance of the objects of its construction as well
as to facilitate the economical exchange of passengers and tratlic between
the respective roads: provided, the acquisition of any of the real estate
of another company shall be in the mode prescribed by the laws of this
state. And it shall likewise be lawful for said company by this act
created to construct and operate in connection with its main line, or with
any of its branches, any line or lines of railway that it may desire so to
do, upon rights of way which have been heretofore or may hereafter be
acquired by any other company or persons, by gift, grant or license, on
terms mutually agreed upon between said railroad company and the
company or person owning such rights of way, but without any power
of condemnation; and in the construction and operation of such line or
lines the said railway company may have the right to cross public high-
ways: provided, it shall in doing so use all the “precautions required of
railroad companies by the general laws of this state relative to railway
companies for avoiding danger and inconvenience to travellers along the
public hizhway. The said company shall be required to commence the
construction of the railroad within two years from the first day of
March, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and to complete the con-
struction of its main line within five years from that date, or otherwise
the powers, privileges and franchises hereby granted shall be annulled
and become void.

13. 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.
And the president and board of directors of said company may enact
such by-laws, rules and regulations for the management of the affairs of
suid company as they may deem proper and expedient.

14. The board of directors shall be stockholders of said company, and
shall consist of such number as the stockholders may determine upon,
and shall be elected at the stockholders’ annual meeting, to be held on
such days as the by-laws of the company may direct, and shall continue
in office for the term of one year from and after the date of their election
and until after their successors are elected and accept the duties of the
office ; and they shall appoint one of their number president; and in

case of death, resignation, or incapacity of any member of the board of
directors during his term of office, the said board shall elect his successor
for the unexpired term.

15. 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 be located in this state.

16. All taxes due the commonwealth by said company shall be paid
in Jawfnl money of the United States and not in coupons.

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