CHAP. 74.—An ACT to amend the charter of the Valley Railroad
Company.

Approved April 2, 1879.

Whereas by the act passed February twenty-third, eighteen
hunderd and sixty-six, the Valley railroad company was incor-
porated for the making of a railroad from Ilarrisonburg to a
suitable point of connection with the Virginia and ‘Tennessee
railroad at or near Salem; and by the act of March first, eigh-
teen hundred and sixty-nine, the said act of incorporation was
amended, and certain rights and privileges were granted to
said company in order to secure a continuous line from its ter-
minal point on or near the Virginia and Tennessee railroad,
through the main Shenandoah valley, and so forth; and by the
act approved March twenty-ninth, eighteen handred and seventy-
three, after reciting that great delay had occurred on the part
of the Valley railroad company in letting its road to contract
in most of the counties through which it was entitled to pass,
and that it was unreasonable to hold such counties, cities and
towns as may have subscribed to the capital stock of said rail-
road company under the expectation or assurance that said
road would be speedily put under contract and completed, bound
by their contracts of subscription for an uncertain and indefi-
nite period of time, it was enacted that it should be lawful
for the board of supervisors of any county, or the council of
any city or town which may have subscribed to the capital stock
of said company, to revoke any subscription which such county,
city or town may have made to the capital stock of the Valley
railroad company, in the event that said act to let its whole
road to contract througbout its entire length, from Harrisonburg
to Salem, to be completed within three years from such letting ;
and whereas the Valley railroad company has been organized
under said acts of incorporation, but after completing less than
one-fourth of its whole line of railroad, to-wit: that portion of
its line from Harrisonburg to Staunton, has now for more than
four years abandoned, or wholly failed to prosecute the work of
completing said railroad from Staunton to the terminal point
at or near Salem, prescribed for said road in said acts of in-
corporation ; and it is represented to the general assembly that
some portions of the subscriptions made to, the capital stock of
sald company by the city of Staunton, and by counties and
towns of this state upon conditions contemplating the entire
and speedy completion of the road throughout its whole length,
have not been consummated; and whereas the rights and in-
terests of the people of the counties and towns, and the city of
Staunton, of this state, which have subscribed to the capital
stock of said company upon the faith that said railroad would
be speedily built from ILarrisonburg to Salem, as contemplated
by the charter of the company, imperatively require that the
Valley railroad company shall proceed in reasonable time to
build and work said railroad; and whereas it is manifest that
the said acts of incorporation were passed by the general as-
sembly for the purpose of securing a continuous line of railroad
from Harrisonburg to Salem, and not otherwise; and that it
was the purpose of the general assembly, as expressed in the
act of March twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and seventy-three,
that unless said railroad should be completed within the time
specified therein, then the counties, towns and cities of this
state which had subscribed to said capital stock, might be at
their election released from any obligation to pay said sub-
scription; therefore. be it enacted by the general assembly of
Virginia, that the charter of the Valley railroad company, be
amended by the addition of the following sections:

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
unless the Valley railroad company shail complete its railroad
from Staunton to Lexington before the first day of April, eigh-
teen hundred and eighty-one; to Buchanan by April first,
eighteen hundred and eighty-two, and to Salem by April first.
eighteen Lundred and eighty-three, its charter shall be forfeited,
and the attorney-general shall proceed at once, by proper judi-
cial proceedings, to procure an adjudication of forfeiture.

2. Phat upon such forfeiture the whole property of said Val-
ley railroad company shall be sold as an entirety, and the pro-
ceeds of sale duly distributed according to law.

3. That the purchaser of said property shall be entitled to
form a corporation, under the laws of this state, as if said rail-
road had been sold, together with all its rights and franchises,
under a deed of trust, and have all the rights, franchises, and
privileges conferred on the Valley railroad company by its
charter, and by all the amendments thereto; and shall take
such franchises, rights, and privileges subject to the obligation
to construct said railroad complete to Lexington within one
year, to Buchanan within two years, and to Salem within three
years from the date of such sale and purchase.
4, That in case such purchaser shall not complete such work
within the times above stipulated and required, then the whole
franchises, rights, and property in the same ghall be forfeited
to such counties and cities of this commonwealth on the line of
sald road as have subscribed for the capital stock of the origi-
nal company, or of the company succeeding thereto, in propor-
tion to the amount respectively paid by them.

5. And upon such forfexture the said counties and cities shall
have all the rights, franchises. and privileges of the original
corporation, and of the successor thereto, and shall constitute
a corporation upon the same terms, and entitled to the same
rights and franchises, a» the original corporation and its sue-
cessor.

6. This act shall take effect from its passage.

et ae — — —