CHAP. 169.—An ACT to incorporate the Piedmont and Tidewater
pipe-line company.

Approved February 5, 1892.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That W. S. Archer, Clay Drewry, W. H. P. Morriss, W. T.
Michaux, and S. Galeski, their associates, successors, and
assigns, and such other persons as may hereafter be asso-
ciated with them, be, and they are hereby, made a body
politic and corporate under the name and style of the
Piedmont and Tidewater pipe-line company, and by that
name shall be known in law, and shall have perpetual suc-
cession, and have power to sue and be sued, plead and be
impleaded, defend and be defended in all courts, whether
In law or equity; may have a common 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 may make by-laws, rules, and regulations, con-
sistent with the laws of this state for the government 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 said corporation shall not be less
than fifty thousand dollars, and may be increased to an
amount not exceeding one million dollars, by the issue and
sale of shares, the par value of which shall be one hun-
dred dollars, from time to time, as the board of directors
may determine. The said company, or its board of direc-
tors, may receive for the stock, in lieu of money, subscrip-
tions (in payment for its stock) in land, rights of way,
easements, lumber, construction and outfit material, labor,
or services, or any real or personal property, at such price
as they may be able to agree upon with such subscribers,
and no subscriber to any of the stock of said company
shall be liable upon paid-up shares of its stock so issued
to him by the said company or its board of directors.

3. The persons named in this act shall compose the
board of directors of the said company, until the first meet-
ing of the stockholders thereof. At such first meeting, and at
every annual meeting, or any general meeting thereafter,
so many directors may be elected as may be prescribed by
the by-laws and regulations of said company, who shall
continue in office until their successors are elected and
qualified. The board of directors shall be composed of
stockholders in said company; they shall appoint one of
their number president, and may fill any vacancy that
may occur in said board until the next annual meeting of
stockholders. So soon as the said first board of directors
shall have elected a president and a secretary, they may
proceed to receive further subscriptions to the capital
stock, and said company shall be considered legally or-
ganized, and may proceed to the transaction of business.
The board of directors may appoint, to hold during its
pleasure, the subordinate officers and agents of the said
company, prescribe their compensations, and take from
them such bonds, with such security, as they may deem
fit.
4. The said company is authorized and empowered to
buy, sell, and deal in, and store all forms of natural gas,
petroleum, rock oil, and all kinds of natural oils; to purify,
refine, or in any and all proper modes prepare the same
for the market and deliver the same to purchasers; and
for these purposes to erect, own or lease, and maintain all
needful and proper storage, properties, gas-holders, tanks,
refineries, and all buildings and usual and necessary appli-
ances and appurtenances required in the conduct of their
business ; to purchase, lease, hold, and to grant and convey
all real estate necessary in the exercise of its corporate
rights.
5. The said company is authorized and empowered to lay,
construct, equip, maintain and operate a pipe line, consist-
ing of one or more lines of pipes or tubes, for the purpose of
carrying and transporting oil and natural gas. The said line
or lines of pipes or tubes may have a terminus at or near
Newport News, or at any convonient deep water point
along James river or on York river or Potomac river, and
may by any convenient route traverse any or all of the in-
tervening counties to some point in the county of Greene,
Or in any other county in this state where oil or natural
gas may be found and be produced and taken from the
soil. And the said company may lay, construct, equip,
maintain and operate branch pipe lines connecting at any
point along said proposed route with its main line. And
the said company may at any time extend any of its said
branch lines or its said main line of pipes by any conve-
nient route to any point in the state of Virginia where oil
or natural gas may be found and be produced and taken
from the soil. As to the storage and transportation of
natural gas and oi], the said company shall be a common
carrier, and in every respect thereto shall have all the
rights and be subject to all the duties of a common car-
rier. The said company shall! have the power to make all
necessary condemnations for its right of way, tank stations
and for terminal facilities as are provided for and in the
manner prescribed in chapter forty-six of the code of Vir-
ginia of eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, in respect to
internal improvement companies, and as the same may he
amended. |

6. The said company may appropriate its right of way
and locate and lay its said pipe lines across any railroad
and upon and over, or under and across, any lands, waters,
streams, rivulets, roads, turnpike-roads, canal, or other
public highways, not, however, passing through any bury-
ing ground, nor within one hundred yards of any ware-
house, mill, manufactory, or store, nor within two hundred
yards of any dwelling-house, without the consent ‘of the
owners thereof being first had and obtained: provided,
that the said company so laying its pipe lines under this
act, in crossing any railroad on the surface, or in occupy-
ing any lands cleared and used for agricultural purposes,
shall bury the same at least fifteen inches below the track
of the railroad or the surface of the land, and if any line
of pipe shall be laid over or through any waste or wood-
land which shall afterwards be changed from waste or
woodland to farming land, then it shall be the duty of the
said company to immediately bury its pipe to the depth
of at least fifteen inches as aforesaid: and provided, fur-
ther, that all pipe lines shall be laid above the flood lines
or beneath the bed in crossing creeks and rivers: and
provided, further, that all tanks erected for the storage or
transportation of oil shall be protected and surrounded
by ditches and embankments, if any such tank be within
five hundred yards of the land of any other person, so
that in case said tanks should break or be broken the oil
stored cannot damage adjoining property.

7. It shall be lawful for the said company to borrow
money and 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 payment of said bonds by mort-
gages or deeds of trust upon all or any portion of its proper-
ty or franchises, including its franchises as a corporation.
It shall be lawful for the said corporation to subscribe to
or purchase and hold shares in the capital stock of any
other corporation whenever the board of directors shall
deem it to be its interest todo so. It shall be lawful for
the said corporation to acquire by purchase any pipe-line
or lines, or pipe-line property, tanks, gas-holders, or any
pipe-line equipments and stock, or any other property from
any other corporation or person.

8. The annual meeting of the stockholders of the said
company shall be held at some place in the state of Vir-
ginia, and at a time to be fixed by the directors or stock-
holders of said company. A general meeting of the stock-
holders may be held at any time as may be provided for
in the by-laws of the said company.

9. 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 Jaw upon similar cor-
porations; and all taxes and demands due the state of
Virginia shall be paid in lawful money of the United
States, and not in coupons.

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