Chap. 121.—An ACT to incorporate the Big Stone Gap Improvement
company.

Approved February 14, 1888.

1. Beit enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
R. A. Ayers, J. M. Bailey, William D. Jones, J. F. Bullitt,
junior, M. B. Wood, James W. Fox, Charles T. Ballard, H. W.

ates, H. C. McDowell, Leroy H. Shields, H. C. Wood, R. B.
Whitridge, Josiah Ryland, Barton Myers, H. 8S. Kane and H.
Cc. M Dowel junior, 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 Big Stone Gap |
Improvement company, and by that name shall be known in
law and shall have perpetual succession, and have power to
sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and be de-
fended in all courts, whether in law or in equity, and may
make and have a common seal and alter and renew the same
at pleasure, and shall have, enjoy and exercise all 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 |
five hundred thousand dollars, and may be increased to any
amount not exceeding ten millions of dollars, by subscriptions,
or by the issue and sale of shares, the par value of which
shall be not 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 receive labor, supplies,
materials, lands, water rights and other property, real or per-
sonal, in payment for subscriptions 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
Wise and within ten miles of what is known as the settlement
of Big Stone Gap; such lands, however, held in tee simple, not
to exceed at any one time ten thousand acres; to till, mine
and quarry upon the same; to construct, lease and sell dwell-
ings, stores or other buildings; to erect and maintain bridges
and dams, and otherwise use, develop and improve the same;
to grade or improve streets; to furnish gas, electric lights,
water, or either, to such persons, firms or corporations resid-
ing or doing business at or near Big Stone Gap, in Wise
county, as may desire to use the same; to provide, locate,
purchase, erect and maintain all works necessary to furnish
gas, electric light and water works, including pipe lines and
conduits for the reception and distribution of the same; to
construct, purchase, maintajn 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 any
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 man- |
ufacture the same for use and sale; may erect, own, lease or
operate furnaces, mills, manufactories, coke ovens or other
works necessary or. expedient to the enjoyment of the privi-
leges herein granted; and said company may acquire by sub-

7 7
scription or by purchase, the stock or bonds of any mining,
manufacturing, water, gas, street railway, or other improve-
ment 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 mecting of the stockholders thereof. At
such first meeting, and at every annual mecting, so many di-
rectors shall be elected as may be prescribed 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 stockholder 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 com-
pany. They shall appoint one of their number president,
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 mecting. Whenever the minimum
amount of capital stock herein named, shall have been sub-
scribed, and the board of directors shall have elected a presi-
dent, said company shall be considered legally organized, and
may proceed to the transaction 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 the company shall be located at some point within
the county of Wise, 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 the said
board, and all annual meetings of stockholders thereafter,
shall be held on the first Wednesday in May of each year, and
at such place as may be prescri#&€d in 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 by 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, signed by
the president and countersigned by the secretary of said com-
pany. The said certificates shall be transferable on the books
of the company by the said subscribers, their personal repre-
sentatives or duly authorized agent or attorney; and the said
certificates, when so transferred as aforesaid, shall be return-
ed to the said company and cancelled, and new certificates of
stock shall be issued in lieu thereof to the persons entitled
thereto, to a like number of shares.

oogle
9. It shall be lawful for said company to issue or sell its
bonds from time to time, for such sum and on such terms as
its board of directors may deem expedient and proper in the
prosecution of any of its work and for the purchase of lands,
and may secure the payment of said bonds by mortgages or
deeds of trust upon all or any portion of its property and
franchises, including its franchise to be a corporation, and
may reserve the right to the company, or confer on the holder
of any bonds of the company, the right to convert the prin-
cipal thereof into stock of the company at any time, and it
shall be lawful for said company to subscribe to and hold
shares in the capital stock of any railroad company or other
corporation whenever the board of directors of the company
shall deem it to its interest to do so, and any such corporation
may guarantee or hold the bonds or the stock of the said
company:

10. No stockholder in said company shall be held or made
responsible for its debts and liabilities in a larger 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, laying,
constructing and operating its conduits and pipe lines and
acquiring the lands and rights of way required therefor, may
enter upon lands and acquire by condemnation, according to
the laws of Virginia, the lands and rights of way required
by the company trom time to time therefor.

12. All taxes due the commonwealth by said company, shall |
be paid in lawful money of the United States, and not in |
coupons.

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