Chap. 125.—An ACT to incorporate the Big Stone Gap Steel and Iron
company.

Approved February 14, 1888.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
8. Lawrence French, Charles Keveny, of Boston, William
D. Jones, of Philadelphia, John M. Bailey and J. Wilder, of
Washington county, Virginia, 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 Steel and Iron company, and by that name shall be
known in law and have perpetual succession, and have power
to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and be
defended in all courts, whether in law or equity; and they
may make and have a common seal, and may alter or renew
the same at pleasure; and shall have, enjoy, and exercise all
rights, powers, and privileges pertaining to corporate bodies
and necessary for the purposes of this act, and may make
by-laws, rules, and regulations consistent with the existing
laws of the state for the government of all under its authority,
the management of its properties and the due and orderly
conduct of its affairs.

2. The capital stock of said company shall not be less than
five thousand dollars nor more than ten million dollars, and
shall be divided into shares, the par value of which shall be
one hundred dollars each, and the directors may sell said
shares of stock or any part thereof at such price as they may
deem to be to the best interests of the company, and may
receive real or personal properties or services in payment for
subscriptions to the capital stock at such valuation as may
be agreed upon between the directors and subscribers.

3. The said company is authorized and empowered to pur-
chase, hold, own, lease, and control in any manner, grant,
bargain, sell, mortgage, convey, and otherwise dispose of real
and personal properties of any kind in this state or elsewhere:
provided, that said company shall not own more than twenty-
five thousand acres in any one county; and the said company
is authorized and empowered to lay out said lands or any

art thereof into parcels or lots of convenient size, with roads,
anes, streets, and alleys, and develop, work, improve, and
cultivate, or otherwise use or dispose of the same in such
manner and qpon such terms as the said company may think
proper; and the said company shall have the exclusive right
to construct, maintain, and operate within any city, town, or
village which the said company may plat or lay out, street
railroads, whether operated by steam, electric, or animal
power; water works and gas works, or other systems of
sillumination. The said company may also build, construct,
and operate railroads from the lands of the said company to
connect with any other railroads, or to any manufacturing
establishments which may in the judgment of the board of
directors be necessary for the purposes of the company, or
offer, cufiigient tonnage to justify, their construction.
4. The said company may also construct, maintain, and
operate pipe lines for the purpose of conducting gas, oil, or
other liquids, and for the purpose of constructing, maintain-
ing, and operating any of the above works, the said com-
pany shall have all the rights, powers, and privileges which
are given to internal improvement companies by the general
laws of the state.

5. The said company is authorized and empowed to bore
and operate wells for gas, oil, or other liquids, and to mine |
and quarry coal, iron, or marble and other mineral substances,
and to prepare and manufacture the same for use and sale in
all manner of forms it may adopt, and to manufacture and
prepare for market and sale, all other raw materials, mineral
or vegetable, and for this purpose may erect and operate all
kinds of furnaces, mills, manufactories, coke ovens, machinery,
and other works necessary for the enjoyment of the privileges
herein granted to the fullest and most ample extent.

6. The five persons first named in this act, shall constitute
the first board of directors of the said company, one of whom
they shall elect president, and when so organized, they shall
be authorized to exercise all the powers conferred by this
charter, and they shall continue in office for one year and
until their successors are elected by the stockholders. 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.

7. The board of directors may establish offices and agencies |
at such places as they may deem proper, but the annual
meeting shall be held and the principal offices shall be located
in the state of Virginia.

8. No stockholder shall ever be liable 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
on account of stock subscribed for or purchased from the
company by the said stockholder.

9. This charter, herein granted, except as to matters
herein specially provided for, is hereby declared to be sub-
ject to the provisions of the general law in regard to chartered
companies and corporations as expressed in the Code of Vir-
ginia, edition of eighteen hundred and seventy-three, chap-
ters fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight, fifty-nine, and sixty-one.
Whenever this corporation shall exercise any of the privileges
conferred by this act, it shall be liable to the same taxes as
may be imposed by law upon other like corporations: and it
is further provided, that the said taxes shall be paid in law-
ful money of the United States and not in coupons. And the
said company may unite, consolidate, or merge its rights,
powers, privileges, franchises, and properties with those of
any other incorporated company, tull power being given to
any such company to form such union, consolidation, or
merger, and the company formed by the union, consolidation,
or merger of this company with any other company or com-
panies, shall have, possess, and enjoy to the fullest and most

_LTVWroire
ample extent, all the rights, powers, priviteges, and franchises

which at the date of such union, consolidation, or merger,

each and every, the said companies at any time possessed.
10. This act shall be in force from its passage.