Chap. 507.—An ACT to incorporate the Elizabeth and Pasquo-
tank railway company.

Approved February 29, 1892.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That A. H. Lindsay, Joseph A. Wallace, H. F. Edmonds,
L. M. West, W. A. West, C. R. Johnson, George T. Wal-
lace, junior, and C. A. Stewart, of Norfolk county, Vir-
ginia, and John K. Abbott, George Beveridge, C. M. Fere-
bee, L. F. Wright, Dr. W. D. Kelliam, M. B. Hughes,
George H. Riggs, of Camden county; William Etheridge
and Miles Whitehurst, of Pasquotank county, R. B. Creecy,
Charles H. Robinson, George M. Scott, E. F. Aydlett and
J. B. Flora, of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, together
with such other persons as may become associated with
them as stockholders, their successors and assigns, be, and
they are hereby, declared to be a body politic and corpo-
rate under and by the name and style of “The Elizabeth
and Pasquotank railway company,” and by that name and
style shall have all the powers conferred and be subject
to all the restrictions imposed by the laws of this com-
monwealth upon such bodies politic and corporate, for the
purpose of locating, constructing, equipping, maintaining
and operating a railroad of one or more tracks, for the
transportation of freight and passengers from Norfolk,
Portsmouth, Berkley or other point or points on the Eliza-
beth river, Hampton Roads, Chesapeake bay or Lynn-
haven, to some points on the Virginia and North Carolina
state line in Norfolk county, by and upon such lines and
routes as the said company may determine and select;
and with the consent of the authorities of the state of
North Carolina or other states, extend said road to such
point or points within such state or states as it may select;
and may establish such gauge and operate said road with
any power it may think proper, and may operate any part
of its road before the whole thereof may be completed ;
and, for the purpose aforesaid, may build, buy, charter
and run all such vessels, either steam, sailing or other
ran as may be necessary to develop or accommodate its
traffic.

2. That said company shall have authority to build and
operate one or more branches, not exceeding twenty miles
in length, and the said railroad and its branches shal] have
the right to cross at grade, or otherwise join and unite its
railway with any railroad now constructed, or to be here-
after constructed, and also the right to cross any navigable
stream or canal in its route, in the manner provided by
law; and shall have and enjoy all the rights, franchises,
privileges and immunities appertaining to railroad corpo-
rations.

3. That the capital stock of said company shall be not
less than twenty-five hundred dollars, with the privilege
and power to increase the same to five hundred thousand
dollars, and the same may be subscribed to by individuals,
corporations, counties, cities and towns, in accordance
with the laws of this commonwealth. That the first ten
persons, or any five of them named in section one of this
act, shall be authorized to open books of subscription to
the capital stock of said company, and when the minimum
capital has been subscribed they are hereby authorized and
empowered to call together the subscribers for the purpose
of organizing said company.

4. That said company are hereby authorized and em-
powered to purchase property of any and every kind, and
to hold, grant, mortgage, sell, or otherwise dispose thereof ;
to issue mortgage bonds upon its franchises, rights, privi-
lege and property, created or to be created, or upon specific
parts of such property, in such sums and to such amounts
as the said corporation may, by its board of directors, ap-
proved by its stockholders, direct and determine; to issue
common and preferred stock; to change the name of said
corporation by a majority vote of its stockholders; tocon-
solidate its franchises, rights, privileges and capital stock
with any other railroad or canal corporation or corpora-
tions, chartered either by this state or other states, and to
purchase any such railroads and canals, and to issue capi-
tal stock of this corporation in lieu of the capital stock of
such purchased corporation: provided that the property of
any such purchased or consolidated company shall be ope-
rated under the laws governing such corporation, and the
service thereon shall in no manger be decreased nor the
tolls on the canals or the freight and passenger rates of the
railroads be increased, except as is hereinafter provided
as to the “ Dismal Swamp,” or “ Norfolk and North Caro-
lina canal.”

5. That should said company become the purchaser of
the “ Dismal SWamp canal,” now called the “ Norfolk and
North Carolina canal,” it may conduct the business of
such canal as provided in section four, whether it build a
railroad or not, as contemplated in the first three sections
of this act. Should said company build the said railroad
as contemplated above, and also purchase the canal, the
said company may, in its discretion, so lower the water
in said canal as to make it navigable for very small boats
and skiffs only, or may so further reduce the water as to
unfit it for navigation altogether, and in that event the
said company shall build a branch road to Lake Drum-
mond, and shall have the use and control of the water in
Lake Drummond, limited only to the conditions that said
lake shall not be purposely overflowed nor the water re-
duced to less than four feet in depth, and that said lake
shall be free to all citizens of the United States for pur-
poses of commerce and pleasure.

6. That in the event of the abandonment of the canal
for transportation purposes, and its use as a drain or for
water supply, or other purpose, as contemplated in part of
section five, the said corporation may make such restric-
tions as it deems best as to the number of ditches that
may be cut into said canal, and how these ditches may be
finished where they enter the same to prevent bars or other
impediment to the free passage of the waters in said canal ;
but no restrictions shall be made which will prevent the
natural drainage of land into said canal where the same is
needed for agricultural purposes. And in the event of the
conditions existing as is contemplated in this section, the
said company shall have control of the water in Deep
creek and Gilmeston cut, above the dam across raid creek,
but shall not hold the water so high as to hinder the drain-
age of the lands bordering on or west of the head of said
creek, but may lower the same to any desired extent.

7. The privileges granted under sections five and six shall
appertain to said corporation in the event of a construc-
tion of a railroad, as contemplated in the first four sec-
tions of this act, or if a railroad shall be constructed by
some other corporation and so located as to practically
give transportation facilities to that part of Virginia now
tributary to and dependent upon the Norfolk and North
Carolina canal: provided that in this case the corporation
created by this act shall not be obliged to construct a
branch road to Lake Drummond, and any privileges grant-

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ACTS OF ASSEMBLY.

ed in said sections as to the use and control of the waters of
Lake Drummond, its tributaries and affluents, not already
possessed by the said “Norfolk and North Carolina canal
company,” are subject to the rights of the act incorporating
the Virginia water company: and provided further, that
the work shal] be commenced within two years, and the
road completed within five years.

8. That all taxes due to the state of Virginia shall be
paid in lawful money of the United States, and not in
coupons.

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