Chap. 333.—An ACT to incorporate the Southwest Virginia mining
company.

Approved May 21, 1887.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
James L. White, Floyd B. Hurt, Samuel F. Hurt, W. G. G.
Lowry, Robert S. Lowry, William B. Kelley, and R. M. Page,
or such of them as may accept the provisions of this act,
their associates and successors, be and they are hereby incor-
porated and made a body politic and corporate under the
name and style of the Southwest Virginia mining company,
and by that name shall be known in law, and shall have per-
petual succession, and have power to sue and be sued, plead
and be impleaded, defend and be defended in all courts,
whether in law or in equity; and may make and have a com-
mon seal, and alter or renew the same at pleasure; and shall
have, enjoy, and exercise all the rights, powers, and privileges
pertaining to corporate bodies and necessary for the purposes
of this act; and make, by-laws, and rules and regulations con-
sistent with the existing laws of the State for the govern-
ment of all under its authority, the management of its estate
and properties, and the due and orderly conduct of its affairs.

2. The capital stock of the said company sball not be less
than fifty thousand dollars, and may be increased to any
amount not exceeding one million dollars, by issue and sale
of shares, the par v value of which shall not be less than one
hundred dollars, from time to time under such regulations as
the board of directors shall from time to time prescribe; and
the board of directors may receive real or personal property,
suited to the business of the company, in payment of sub-
scriptions to the capital stock, at such valuations as may be
agreed upon between the directors and subscribers.

3. The said company is authorized and empowered to mine
coul. iron ore. or other minerals; to prepare the products
thereof tor market; to make and transport and sell the same;
to manufacture iron and steel and other metals and articles
composed wholly or partly of iron and steel and other metals
or wood; to bore for salt, oil, or g gas, and manufacture, trans-
port, and refine the same, ‘and to sell and dispose ‘of the
same; and to erect blast furnaces, rolling mills, forges, mills,
machinery, fixtures, buildings, and the necessary appliances
and appurtenances required in the conduct of their business,
and to make Icases and contracts for these or any of these
purposes; and the said “company shall have the right from
time to time to purchase, lease, hold and control in any man-
ner, grant, bargin, sell and convey iron ore, mineral, and lime-
stone and other lands, and rights and interest in lands, situate
in the counties of Washington, Smyth, Grayson, and Wise,
and the counties adjacent thereto in the State of Virginia,
not exceeding, however, one hundred thousand acres of land
in any one county, and to lay out, develop, and improve the
same.
4. The persons named in this act, or such of them as shall
accept the provisions thereof, shall constitute the first. board
of directors of the said company, and shall continue in office
until the first meeting of the stockholders thereof. At such
first mecting, and at every annual mecting, so many directors
shall be elected as may be prescribed by the by-laws and re-

ulations of said company, who may be removed by the stock-
folders in general meoting; but, unless so removed, shall con-
tinue in office until their successors shall be elected and
qualified. Each stockholder in the company shall at all the
meetings and clections thereafter, be entitled to one vote for
each share of stock registered in bis name.

5. The board of directors shall be stockholders of said com-
pany. They shall appoint one of their number chairman,
and may fill any vacancy that may occur in said board,
unless by removal; in which case, the same shall be filled by
the stockholders in general meeting. Whenever the mini-
mum amount of capital stock herein’ named shall have been
subscribed, and the board of directors shall have elected a
chairman, 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 compen-
sations, and take from them such bonds with such security
as they may deem fit.

6. The board of directors may establish offices and agen-
cies at such places as they deem proper, but the principal
office of the company shall be located at some point within
the limits of the State of Virginia.

7. The annual meeting of the stockholders of the said
company shall be held at Abingdon, Washington county, in
Virginia, on the first Wed nesday of May of cach year, or as
soon thereafter as practicable, and on such other day and at
such other placeas the stockholders may, by resolution adopted
in any annual meeting to take effect at the next annual meet-
ing, prescribe. A general mecting of the stockholders of said
company may be held at any time, as provided for by the
tenth section of chapter fifty-soven of the Code of Virginia,
edition of eighteen hundred and seventy-three.

8. The said company shall issue certificates of stock in
said company to subscribers therefor, in shares of not less
than one hundred dollars each, signed by the chairman and
countersigned by the secretary of said company. The said
certificates shall be transferable only upon the books of the
company by the said subscribers, their personal representa-
tives, or duly authorized agent or attorney; and the said
certificates when so transferred as aforesaid, may be returned
to the said company and cancelled, and new certificates of
stock shall be issued in licu thereot to the person entitled
thereto for a like number of shares.

9. It shall be lawful for said company to issue and 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 may secure the pay-
ment of said bonds by mortgages or deeds of trust upon all
or any portion of its property and tranchises to be a corpora-
tion, and the company may reserve the right to the company
or confer on the holder of any bond the right to convert the
principal thereof into the 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 so to do.

10. No stockholder in said company shall be held 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 for stock subscribed for by said stockholder.

11. 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
or persons exercising like privileges. And all taxes or debts
due the State by the company, shall be paid in lawful money
of the United States and not in coupons.

12. This act shall be in force from it passage, but the eene-
ral assembly of the State of Virginia reserves to itself the
right to modify, alter, or repeal this act at any time hereafter.