Sec[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the state of Illinois represented in the General Assembly; That William Wilson, Alexander M. Jenkins, David J Baker, John S Hacker, Henry Eddy, Wilson Able, Elijah Willard, Joel Manning, Richard G Murphy, Pierre Menard, Miles A Gilbert, Francis Swanwick, John Reynolds, Alfred Cowles, Harry Wilton, Sidney Breese, John D Wood, Charles Prentice, John Dement, William F Thornton, William Williamson, John F Henry, M L Covill, Lovell Kimball, John M Krum, D B. Hollbrook, Simon M Hubbard, William C Greenup, James Hughes, Albert G Snyder, William G Reddick, G. S Hubbard, Daniel Wann, John Tayler, Elijah Iles, Thomas Mather, John Todd, A. G. Henry, and Porter Clay, their associates[,] successors[,] and assigns, be and they are hereby made a body politic and corporate under the name of the “Illinois Central Rail Road Company” and by that name shall be, and are hereby, made capable in law and equity, to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended, in any court or place whatsoever; to make, have[,] and use a common seal, and the same to renew and alter at pleasure; and by that name and style be capable in law of purchasing, holding, and conveying away real and personal estate, for the uses and purposes of said corporation; and shall be, and are hereby vested with all the powers, privileges[,] and immunities which are, or may be necessary to carry into effect the purposes and objects of this Act as herein after set forth. And the said corporation are hereby authorized and empowered to locate, construct, and finally complete a Rail Road, commencing at or near the mouth

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of the Ohio River, and thence north to a point on the Illinois River, at or near the termination of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, in such manner and form as they shall deem to be most expedient. And for this purpose said company are hereby authorized to lay out their Road, not exceeding six rods wide, through its whole length; and for the purpose of cuttings, embankments, and procuring stone or gravel, may take as much more land as may be necessary for the proper construction and security of said Road; Provided however, that all damages that may be accassioned to any person or corporation by the taking of such land or materials for the purposes aforesaid, shall be paid for by said corporation, in the manner herein after provided.

Sec 2. The capital stock of said company shall consist of Twenty five thousand shares of one hundred dollars each; and the immediate government and direction of the affairs of said company shall be vested in a Board of not less than five Directors who shall be chosen by the members of the corporation in the manner hereinafter provided, and shall hold their offices until others shall be duly elected and qualified to take their places as Directors; and the said Directors, a majority of whom shall form a quorum for the transaction of business, shall elect one of their number to be President of the Board, who shall also be President of the Corporation; and shall have authority to choose a clerk, who shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of his duty, And a Treasurer, who shall give bonds to the corporation with sureties to the satisfaction of the Directors in a sum not less than Twenty thousand

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dollars for the faithful discharge of his trust.

Sec 3. That the President and Directors for the time being, are hereby authorized and empowered by themselves or their agents to exercise all the powers herein granted to the company for the purpose of locating, constructing, and completing said Rail Road, and for the transportation of persons, goods[,] and merchandize, and all such other powers and authority for the management of the affairs of the Corporation not heretofore granted, as may be necessary, and proper to carry into effect the objects of this company; to purchase and hold land, materials, engines, cars, and other necessary things in the name of the company, for the use of the Road, and for the transportation of persons, goods, and merchandise; to make such equal assessments, from time to time, on all the shares in said corporation, as they may deem expedient and necessary in the execution and progress of the work, and direct the same to be paid to the Treasurer of the Company; and the Treasurer shall give notice of all such assessments. And in case any subscriber shall neglect to pay his assessment for the space of thirty days after due notice by the Treasurer of said corporation, the Directors) may order the Treasurer to sell such share or shares at public auction, after giving due notice thereof, to the highest bidder, and the same shall be transfered to the purchaser and such delinquent subscriber shall be held accountable to the company for the balance, if his share or shares shall sell for less than the assessment due thereon, with interest and cost of sale; and shall be entitled to the overplus, if his share or shares shall sell for more than the assessments due with interest and costs of sale; Provided however that no assessment

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shall be laid upon any shares in said company of a greater amount in the whole than one hundred dollars on a share.

Sec 4. The said Company shall have power to make ordain, and establish all such bye laws, rules[,] and regulations, and ordinances as they may deem expedient and necessary to accomplish the designs and purposes, and to carry into effect the provisions of this act, and for the transfer and assignment of its stock and the conveyanceng of property, and the well ordering, regulating[,] and securing of the interests and affairs of the company; Provided the same be not repugnant to the constitution and laws of this state or of the United States.

Sec 5. A toll is hereby granted and established for the sole benefit of said company, upon all passengers and property of all descriptions, which may be conveyed or transported upon said Road, at such rates per mile as may be agreed upon and established from time to time by the Directors of said company. The transportation of persons and property, the construction of wheels[,] the form of cars and carriages[,] the weight of loads, and all other matters and things in relation to the use of said Road, shall be in conformity to such rules, regulations[,] and provisions as the Directors shall, from time to time, prescribe and direct; Provided however, that if at the expiration of ten years from and after the completion of said Road, the nett income or receipts from tolls, taking the ten years aforesaid as the basis of calculation, shall have amounted to more ^twelve^ than ^(^ten^)^ percent per annum upon the cost of the

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Road, the legislature may take measures to alter and reduce the rate of tolls in such manner as to take off the overplus for the next ten years, calculating the amount of transportation upon the Road to be the same as the ten preceeding years; and at the expiration of every ten years thereafter the same proceedings may be had; Provided further, that the legislature shall not, at any time, so reduce the tolls ^twelve^ as to produce a less than ^(^ten^)^ per centum upon the cost of the said Rail Road, without the consent of the said company. And no other Rail Road than the one hereby granted, shall, within fifty years from the passage of this act be authorized to be made, leading from the Ohio River, or Mississippi ^commencing below the mouth of the Illinois^ River, to any place within ten miles of the northerly termination of the Rail Road hereby established; Provided that the said Rail Road shall be commenced in five years, and completed within Twenty years from the passage of this act.

Sec 6. The Directors of the said Company, for the time being, are hereby authorized to erect toll houses[,] establish gates[,] appoint toll gatherers, and demand toll upon the Road, when complete, and upon such parts thereof as shall from time to time be completed.

Sec 7. The said company shall be holden to pay all damages that may arise to any person or persons, corporation or Corporations, by taking their land for said Rail Road; when it cannot be obtained by voluntary agreement, to be estimated, and recovered in the manner provided by law for the recovery of damages happening by laying out highways.

Sec 8. When the lands or other property or estate of any feme covert, infant, or person non compos1 mentis shall be necessary for the construction of said Rail Road, the husband of such feme covert, and the guardian of such infant, or person non compos2 mentis, may release all damages for any lands or estates taken and appropriated as aforesaid as they might do, if the same men holden by them in their own right respectively.

Sec 9. If any person shall wilfully, maliciously, or wantonly and contrary to law, obstruct the passage of any carriage on said Rail Road, or in any way spoil, injure, or destroy said Rail Road, or any part thereof, or any thing belonging thereto or any material or instruments to be employed in the construction, or for the use of said Rail Road, he, she, or they, or any person or persons assisting, aiding or abetting in such trespass, shall forfeit and pay to said corporation, for every such offence, treble such damages as shall be proved before the Justice, court[,] or jury; before whom the trial shall be had; to be sued for and recovered before any Justice, or any Court proper to try the same, by the Treasurer of the corporation, or other officer whom they may direct, to the use of said company; and such offender or offenders shall be liable to indictment by the grand jury for the county within which such trespass shall have been committed, for any offence or offences contrary to the above provisions, and on conviction thereof, before any court competent to try the same, shall pay a fine not exceeding one hundred nor less than thirty dollars, to the use of the people of the state of Illinois; or may be imprisoned for a term, not exceeding one year, at the discretion of the court before whom the conviction may be had.

Sec. 10. The annual meeting of the members of said corporation shall be holden on the second Monday in December, in each year, at Vandalia, or such other place as the Directors, for the time being, may appoint, at which meeting the Directors shall be chosen by ballot, such proprietor being entitled to as many votes as he holds shares; and any to of the individuals named in the first section of this act, are hereby authorized to call the first meeting of said company, by giving notice in some public newspaper, published at the place where such meeting is to be held, of the time, place, and purpose of such meeting, at least ten days before the time mentioned in such notice.

Sec. 11. If the said Rail Road, in the course thereof, shall cross any River, Canal, Turnpike, or other highway, the said Rail Road shall be so constructed as not to impede or obstruct the safe and convenient use of such River, canal, Turnpike, or other highway and said company hereby created shall construct a latteral rail Road from Belleville through Lebanon in S^t Clair County to the nearest practicable point of said Central Rail Road [...?] S^t Clair County which latteral road shall be made and constructed in the same manner and the work progress in the proportion of the work done on the main central Rail Road until the same is completed, to be subject to the same rules and regulations when completed that the main road is by this act.

Sec. 12. The better to enable said company to construct and complete said Rail Road, the Governor of the state is hereby authorized and required, upon the passage of this act, to issue certificates of stock to said company, to an amount not exceeding the sum of five hundred thousand dollars, to be called the “Illinois Central Rail Road scrip”, signed by the Auditor, and countersigned by the Treasurer, bearing an interest of six per cent., and payable at some bank in the city of New York ^Philadelphia or Boston^ to be specified therein which scrip, so issued, may be reimbursable at the pleasure of the state, at any time after the expiration of thirty years from the date thereof—which amount shall immediately after the passage of this Act, be invested in such Government Lands between the Ohio and Illinois Rivers, as may be selected by said company

Sec 13 That so soon as the lands hereby authorized to be entered or purchased by the said company, shall be obtained, a lien in the nature of a mortgage is hereby created in favor of the state on said lands and every part and parcel thereof, so soon as the same shall be entered and purchased as aforesaid, for the amount of such scrip to be issued as aforesaid with the interest thereon, until said scrip shall be redeemed and returned to the state

Sec 14. And for the further security of the state of Illinois, for the issuing the scrip aforesaid, the said company, as soon as practicable after they shall be organized, agreeably to his act, shall execute, and deliver to the Governor of this state, their bond or bonds, conditioned for the payment to the state the said sum of five hundred thousand dollars, and interest thereon; at such times and places when and where the said scrip be made

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payable and said company shall be chargeable with a farther lien, in favor of, and due to the state of Illinois, upon its stock—its Rail Road so to be constructed, and all its property, beside the lands aforesaid, which shall remain a charge thereon, until the whole amount of the said debt and interest thereon shall be paid, and should said company fail or neglect to pay the interest on said bond or bonds at the several times and places when and where said interest is due and payable, then the said lands so to be purchased by the company as aforesaid shall become forfeited to, and vest absolutely in the state.

^12.^ Sec. 16. It shall be lawful for the legislature of this state, at any time, during the continuance of the charter of the said Rail Road, after the expiration of twenty-five years from the opening for the use of the Rail Road herein provided to be made, to purchase of the said company, the said Rail

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Road herein provided to be made,

Road, and all the franchise, rights[,] and privileges, of the said company, by paying them therefore the^)^ amount expended in making said Rail Road; and in case, at the time of purchase, the said company shall ^twelve^ not have received a nett income equal to ^(^ten^)^ per cent. per annum, on the said expenditures, from the time of the payment thereof, by the stockholders, by paying the said corporation such additional sum, as together with the tolls which they shall have received from the said Rail Road, will be equal to a nett profit of ^twelve^ ^(^ten^)^ per. cent. per annum on the cost of said Rail Road, from the date of the payment thereof, by the stock holders of the said corporation, to the time of such purchase.

^13.^ Sec 17. The said company are hereby authorized to extend the said Rail Road herein provided for from the Illinois River to Galena, in this state; provided the route proposed to be taken, shall be surveyed and ^four.^ located within ^(^two^)^ years from July next, and the whole Rail Road completed within ^(^Eight years there after.^)^ ^the time limited in the fifth section of this act.^

^14.^ Sec 18. It shall be lawful for said company to increase their capital stock to an amount sufficient to extend and complete the Rail Road authorized by this Act, whenever the Company shall deem it expedient, by a vote of the stockholders at a meeting specially notified for the purpose, to be assessed to the same amount as the shares which are already created; Provided, that the additional number of shares so to be created, shall not exceed ten thousand; and the proprietors of the shares already created, for the time being, shall have the option of subscribing to said additional shares, in proportion to the amount which they may hold respectively, of the said original shares

Sec 19. The four persons first-named in this act together with the state Treasurer shall ^Empower three or more persons to^ select, and enter an amount of said company, the lands authorized to be located in conformity with the thirteenth sections of this act; and also to make available in the hands of the state Treasurer the scrip authorized to be issued by the Governor for the payment os such lands, and to report to the company their acts and doings, as soon as practicable and the premium which shall be obtained upon the sale of said scrip shall be invested by said Treasurer in the stock of “the state Bank of Illinois” and held by him as a fund to be applied from time to time for the benefit and under the direction of the said company, in discharge of the interest accruing on their bond or bonds to the state and the said company shall immediately after the selection and purchase of said lands furnish the said Treasurer with an accurate description list thereof certified by the proper Register of the Land Office, to be filed in his office provided that the certificates of stock hereby authorized to be created shall not be sold for less than its par value and the persons hereby authorized to select the lands hereby authorized to be entered shall be individually together with the company responsible to the state for so much of the money as shall not be invested as herein provided for and if the money should not be invested as provided the persons whose duty it is to select the lands to be entered shall pay all the expenses of selling the said certificates of stock and or receiving the money therefor

^15.^ Sec. 20. In case the state shall purchase the Rail Road authorized to be constructed by this Act, the limitation provided in the fifth section of this act, shall cease, and be of no effect.

Sec. 21. The said Illinois Central Rail Road Company shall have a right to enter, upon and use the Rial Road hereafter proposed to be constructed by the Alton and Shawneetown Rial Orad company, paying therefor such rate of toll as the legislature may, from time to time, prescribe - and complying with such rules and regulations as may be established by said company, conformable to the act [in corporating the same. And if said Alton and Shawneetown Rail Road Company shall fail to comply with the act] of incorporation and neglect to survey and complete the Road, by the time limited by said act, the said Illinois Central Rail Road Company, may construct a Rail Road over the general route described in said act, or such other route as shall be in direction from Shawneetown to Alton. And in laying out, construction and use of the said Rail Road and branches, the said company shall possess all the powers, enjoy all the privileges, and be subject to all the liabilities which are granted to, and imposed upon, the main Rail Road, Provided, that all the reservations made in this act for the exercise of the authority of the legislation, in reference to the main Rail Road, shall apply equally to the branches, which shall be constructed under the authority granted by this act.

^16.^ Sec ^(^22.^)^ It shall be the duty of the said Rail Road Company, from year to year, to make report to the legislature, of their receipts and expenditures on said Rail Road and branches, authorized to be constructed under the provisions of this act. And in consideration of the loan from the state, as provided in section thirteen, it shall be lawful for the state to subscribe for stock in the Illinois Central Rail Road Company, for a sum not exceeding the amount due on said loan

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said loan, at any time within five years after the completion of the Rail Road to the Illinois River, and in payment therefor, to issue scrip to said company for the amount bearing an interest of five per cent., and reimbursable at the pleasure of the state, after twenty years from the date of said scrip; or the state may, if they deem it more expedient, release to said company, or to any person or corporation, the bonds, liens, and mortgages held as security for the loan aforesaid, in payment for the stock in said Rail Road authorized to be purchased under this section

Sec 23. The lien in favor of the state hereby created on the lands to be purchased or entered by the said company under any of the provisions of this act shall not in any way be raised or released under any pretext whatsoever until the said Rail Road shall have been made and completed from its point of commencement to its termination on the Illinois River. Nor shall any thing in this act contained be so construed as to authorize the said Company to sell or dispose of any or all of said lands until the said Rail Road shall have been completed as aforesaid & all sale or sales thereof to be made by said company until such completion of said Rail Road shall be and is hereby declared to be made subject to said lien & such sale to be utterly null and void as against the state, the company shall not in any event be authorized to sell any of the lands so located until the completion of the Rail Road as authorized by this act from its commencement to the Illinois River or unless the legislature may hereafter authorize said company to dispose of a part or all of said lands.

Section 24. In case the said company shall fail to commence and complete said Rail Road, within the time limited in the fifth section of this act, the lands enter and purchased under the provisions hereof with the scrip so to be issued as above hereof provided shall thereupon become and be forfeited to this state and all tith and claim to the same by said company shall thence forward cease and determine and be null and void; Provided that this act shall never be so construed as to prevent any Rail Road or other publick highway from passing over the said Rial Road, or through the lands of Said company.