CHAP. 171.—An ACT to incorporate the Virginia Mineral and
Gypsum Railroad Company.

Approved March 3, 1879. ‘

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That Green B.
Board, John J. Moorman, D. B. Strouse. Reese L. Bowen, T. J.
Higginbotham, Joseph Stras, William H. Burns, ©. A. Smith,
CG. C. Gose, James H. Dickenson, Thomas W. Davis, Samuel
Ii. Newberry, Samucl W. Williams, Cliarles Payne, William
Eggleston, M. P. Faurier, M. P. Spessard, Andrew MeUartney,
Francis T. Sorrel, John Trout, David 8. Read, James Chalmers,
Edward McMahon, J. Alen Watts, H. A. Edmundson, Charles
W. Burwell, William R. Beale, F. J. Chapinan, M. W. Petti-
grew, R. H. Logan and Joel C. Green, or such of them as may
accept the provisions of this act, and such other persons and
corporations as may become associated with them in tae manner
hereinafter provided, shall be and they are hereby constituted
a body politic and incorporated, by the name of The Virginia
Mineral and Gypsum Railroad Company; and by that name
shall have all the powers, rights and franchises necessary aud
proper to create, constitute, equip and maintain a narrow-gauge
railroad, to be known as the Virginia mineral and gypsum rail-
road, at or near the mouth of Catawba, or at or near the mouth of
Craig’s creek, in the county of Botetourt, and to run by such
route as the Virginia mineral and gypsum railroad company may
deem most expedient through the counties of Craig, Giles, Bland
and Tazewell, to Bickley’s mills in the eounty of Russell, on the
Saltville and Coalmine railroad; and tie said railroad com-
pany shall have the power to build any branch roads which may
be necessary to reach any valuable mineral, gypsum or coal
deposits, so that no such branch road shall exceed ten miles in
length; and the said railroad shall have power to purciase and
hold any mineral lands, for the purpose of working the same, in
order to furnish tonnage for the road,

2. The capital stock of said company shall not exceed four
million dollars, to be divided into shares of not less than twenty-
five dollars each; and it shall be lawful for the persons herein-
before named, or any twelve of them, to organize the company
by the election of a president and board of directors, and such
other officers as may be necessary, and thereupon they shall
have and exercise all the general powers and functions of a
corporation, and be subject to ail the restrictions imposed by
the laws of the state applicable to internal improvement com-
panies, except so far as the same may be changed or modified
-by this act. But the said company shall not commence the
construction of the said road until there is subseribed by indi.
viduals, counties or corporations, at Icast the sum of five bhun-
dred thousane dollars; and any connecting railroad company
may subscribe to the stock of the said company.

3. The board of directors shall have power to issue bonds in
sums of not less than one hundred dollars each, and bearing
interest at not exceeding eight per centum, the principal and
interest of which shall be payable at such times and places as
the board of directors may determine, and may secure the
gaine by one or more mortgages on the road, franchises, in-
comes, and the real and personal property of the company, or
such parts thereof as may be Gesignated in the mortgages ;
and the said company may sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of
any lands or properties acquired under this section, and may
lease its road, rolling-stock, and equipments, or any of them,
to any other corporation.

4. That any county along the line of the said railroad or any
of its branches is authorized in the manner prescribed by law
to subscribe to the capital stock of said railroad; and to this
end jit shall be the duty of the county court of each of such
counties to cause a vote to be taken in the county of such
court in the manner prescribed by law, at such times as the
president of the Virginia mineral and gypsum railroad com-
pany shall require, and to issue bonds in such forms, running
such length of time and bearing such interest, payable semi-
annually, at such places as the county court of such county
may determine. And it is provided that upon any subscrip-
tion being so made by any county, the board of supervisors or
such other authority whose duty it may be to levy the taxes for
such county, shall annually, in addition to levies for other pur-
poses, make a levy sutiicient to pay the interest on the aggre-
gate amount of bonds issued by such county under this act,
and also one per centum for a sinking fund to pay off the prin-
cipal of said bonds in thirty-four years,

5. Subscriptions to the stock of said company may be made
in money, materials, or land, and said company may also
acquire land by gift or purchase, and shall have power to hold
and sell the same: provided, that the amount of land so held
at any one time shall not exceed one hundred thousand acres.

6. The said company is required to complete the said rail-
road within three years from the completion of the Richmond
and Alleghany railroad company.

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