CHAP. 527.—An ACT to incorporate the Augusta and Rockbridge
railroad company.

Approved March 4. 1890.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That W. H. H. Lynn, Lewis Harman, and G. W. Sutler,
of Staunton; Thomas L. Johnson, of Indiana, and George
Cameron, of ‘Rockbridge county, or such of them as may
accept the provisions of this act, their associates, succes-
sors, and assigns, be, and they are hereby, incorporated
and made a body politic and corporate under the name
and style of the Augusta and Rockbridge railroad com-
pany, and as such are authorized and empowered tv locate,
construct, equip, and operate a railroad of narrow or stan-
dard gauge, commencing at a point between Staunton, in the
county of Augusta,and Fairfield, in the county of Rock-
bridge, Virginia, and running near the town of Buena Vista
or Glasgow, one or both, in the county of Rockbridge, Vir-
ginia, as they may deem proper, and by the name of the
Augusta and Rockbridge railroad company shal] be known
in law.

2. The said company shall have perpetual succession,
and have power to sue and be sued, plead and be im-
pleaded, defend and be defended in all courts, whether in
law or in equity, and may make and have a common seal,
and alter or renew the same at pleasure, and shall have,
possess, and enjoy all the rights of a corporation or
body politic in the law and necessary for the purposes of
this act.

3. The capital stock of the said company shall be not
less than five thousand dollars, and may from time to time
be increased to any amount not exceeding five hundred
thousand dollars by issue and sale of shares, the par value
of which shall not be less than fifty dollars, under such
regulations as the board of directors of said company
shall from time to time prescribe; and the directors may
receive cash, labor, material, real or personal property in
payment of subscription to the capital stock, at such valu-
ation as may be agreed upon between the directors and
subscribers, and may make such subscription payable in
such manner or amounts and at such times as may be
agreed upon between the directors and subscribers.

4. It shall be lawful for said company to borrow money
and issue and sell its bonds from time to time for such
sums 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 payment of said bonds by
mortgage or deeds of trust upon all or any portion of its
property, real, personal, and mixed, its covenants, con-
tracts, and privileges, and its chartered rights and fran-
chises, including its franchise to be a corporation, and it
may, as the business of the company may require, sell,
lease, convey, and encumber the same.

5. The said company is authorized and empowered to
locate, construct, equip, and operate lateral or branch
roads and tramways from any points on its line of rail-
road to any ore banks, mines, or other operations in the
counties of Augusta and Rockbridge or counties adjacent
thereto, or to connect the said line with that of any other
railroad now or hereafter to be constructed in or to any of
said counties, and the said company may connect or unite
its said road with that of any other company, or consoli-
date and merge its stock, property, and franchises with
that of any other company operating or authorized to
operate a connecting line of railroad, upon such terms as
may be agreed upon between the companies so uniting or
connecting, merging or consolidating, and for that pur-
pose power is hereby given to it and to such other com-
pany or companies to make and carry out such contracts
as will facilitate and consummate such connection, mer-
ger or consolidation: provided, that a copy of every such
contract of consolidation and merger shall be filed in the
office of the board of public works.

6. The said.company may lease, purchase, hold, grant,
or dispose of real and personal estate: provided, that not
more than twenty thousand acres of land shall be owned
' by it in any one of the counties through which its main
line or any lateral branches may pass.

7. The said company may acquire by condemnation,
according to the laws of Virginia, the lands required for
the right of way of its railroad and the necessary stations
and depots for its operation, and may connect or unite
its railroad with any other railroad company.

8. The said company shall be required to commence the
construction of the said railroad within two years from
the first day of March, eighteen hundred and ninety, and
to complete the construction of its main line within five
years thereafter, otherwise the powers, privileges, and fran-
chises hereby granted shall be ipso facto void.

9. The persons first named in this act, or such of them
as shall accept the provisions thereof, shall have the power
and authority of a board of directors for the purpose of
organization, and for all other purposes. They shall con-
tinue in office until their successors shall be elected and
qualified. 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.

10. The board of directors shall be stockholders of said
company. They shall appoint one of their number presi-
dent, 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 ten
per centum of the capital stock shall have been subscribed,
and the board of directors shall have elected a president,
said company shall be considered as legally organized, and
may proceed to the transaction of business.

11. The board of directors may establish offices and
agencies at such places as they may deem proper; but the
principal administrative office of the company shall be
located at some point within the state of Virginia.

12. All taxes due, or that may become due, by the said
company to the state of Virginia shall be paid in lawful
money of the United States.

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