Chap. 24.--An ACT to incorporate Eastern and Northwestern Railway Company.
Approved December 19, 1901.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That S. C. Gra-
ham, Henry Preston, G. L. Byrom, C. P. Williams, George F. Brewster,
A. Cummins, R. R. Henry, J. N. Harman, and W. L. Moore, their asso-
ciates, successors, and assigns, be, and they are hereby, incorporated and
made a body politic and corporate, under the name and style of Eastern
and Northwestern Railway Company, and by that name shall be known
in the law, and as such are authorized and empowered to locate, con-
struct, equip, and operate a line of railroad, of standard or narrow gauge,
with single or double track, commencing at a point on or near Clinch
river, in Tazewell county, and running thence through said county to a
point on the State line between Virginia and West Virginia, and on and
by such route as may be deemed suitable and advisable by the board of
directors of said company.

2. Said company shall have perpetual succession, and have power to
sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended in all
the 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 and
possess and enjoy all the rights and privileges of a corporation or body
politic in the law and necessary for the purposes of this act.

3. The capital stock of said company shall not be less than twenty
thousand dollars, and mav from time to time, with the consent of the
majority of its stockholders, be increased to an amount requisite for the
purposes of the company, 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, not
exceeding fifty thousand dollars: and the directors may receive cash,
labor, materials, real and personal property, suited to the business of the
company, in payment of subscriptions to the capital stock, at such valua-
tions as may be agreed upon between the directors and the subscribers,
and may make such subscriptions payable in such manner“or amounts
and at such times as may be agreed upon with the subscribers.

4. It shall be lawful for the company to acquire, by donations or pur-
chase, land for the right of way, depots, stations, round-houses, machine
shops and other purposes necessary for the successful construction and
operation of its road in any of the counties through which it is author-
ized to construct its line.

5. It shall be lawfy] for said company to borrow money or 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 ; and to secure the pay-
ment of said bonds by mortgages or deeds of trust upon all or any portion
of its property, railroads, and franchises.

6. It shall be lawful for said company to guarantee or hold the stock
or bonds of any mining, manufacturing, or other corporation of this
State, and mining, manufacturing, or other corporations may guarantee
or hold the stock or bonds of said company. |

7. Said corporation is authorized and empowered to locate, construct,
equip, and operate such lateral or branch roads, not exceeding twenty
miles in length, by such route or routes as it may select, in said county of
Tazewell, or counties adjoining thereto, as may be necessary for the
accommodation of the public, and to bring out coal, iron ores, and pro-
ducts in said counties, or to connect with any other railroad that is now
or hereafter may be constructed in or to said counties.

8. 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 railroads with that of any other railroad company now or
hereafter constructed in or to said county of Tazewell, and may consoli-
date or merge its stock, property, or franchises with those of any com-
pany operating and authorized to operate connecting lines of railroads,
not a competing line, upon such terms as may be agreed upon by the
boards of directors of the companies so uniting or consolidating; and for
that purpose the power is hereby given to it and to such other company or
companies to make and carry out such contracts as will facilitate and
consummate such connection, merger, or consolidation: provided, that a
copy of every such contract, consolidation, and merger be filed in the
office of the board of public works.

9. The said company shall be required to commence the construction
of its said railroad within two years from the first day of March, nineteen
hundred and two, and to complete the construction of its main line within
five years thereafter; otherwise, the powers, privileges, and franchises
hereby granted will be annulled and become void.

10. The persons first named in this act, or such of them as shall accept
the provisions hereof, shall have power and authority of a president and
hoard of directors for the first year, and shall continue in office until their
successors shall be elected and qualified. Each stockholder in the com-
pany shall at all meetings and elections be entitled to one vote for each
share of stock registered in his name.
24 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY.

11. The board of directors shall be stockholders of said company.
They shall*appoint one of their number president, and may fill any
vacancies that may occur in said board, unless by removal from office, in
which case the vacancy shall be filled by the stockholders in general meet-
ing. Whenever twenty-five 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 legally organized, and may proceed with
the transaction of business.

12. No stockholder in said company shall ever, be held hable for the
indebtedness of said company in a sum greater than mav be due on stock
subscribed for or purchased by him at the agreed price therefor.

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

14. All taxes due the Commonwealth by said company shall be paid in
lawful money of the United States, and not in coupons.

15. This act shall be in force from its passage, but the general assem-
bly of the State of Virginia reserves to itself the right to modify, alter.
or repeal this act at anv time hereafter.