Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Charles Hunt, Isaiah Stillman, Gabriel Walling, Lathrop W. Curtis, Alexander Wilson, Nathaniel B. Childs, Joel Wright, Jonas Breed, Starling Turner, John Orendoff and Lewis Bideman, their associates, successors and assigns, are hereby created a body corporate and politic, under the name and style of the “Canton and Utica Rail Road Company,” and by that name may be, and (are) hereby made capable in law and equity, to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, answer and be answered unto, defend and be defended, in any court or courts of record, or in any other place whatever; to make, have and use, a common seal, and the same to break, renew and alter, at pleasure; 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 hereinafter set forth. And the said company are hereby authorized and empowered, to locate, construct, and finally complete, a rail road, commencing on the Illinois river at or near the mouth of Coperas creek, thence to Utica, in such manner and form as the said company shall deem most expedient. And for this purpose said company are authorized to lay out said road not to exceed eight rods wide through the whole length, and for the purpose of cutting embankments, stone, gravel, may take as much more land as may be necessary for the proper construction and security of said road; Provided, That all damages that may be occasioned to any

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person or persons, by the taking of such land or materials, for the purposes aforesaid, shall be paid for by said company in the manner hereinafter provided.

Sec. 2. The capital stock of said company shall consist of one thousand shares, with the privilege of increasing the same to two thousand shares in the whole, of fifty dollars each; and the immediate government and direction of the affairs of said company shall be vested in seven directors, who shall be chosen by the members of the company, in the manner hereinafter provided, who shall hold their offices for one year and 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 company, 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 bond to the company with securities to the satisfaction of the directors.

Sec. 3. The president and directors, for the time being, are hereby authorized and empowered, by themselves or their agents, to exercise all the powers and authority herein granted, for the purpose of locating, constructing and completing said rail road; and all such other powers and authority for the management of the affairs of said company, not heretofore granted, as may be necessary to carry into effect the object of this grant; to purchase and hold lands, materials, and other necessary things, in the name of the company, for the use of the road; to make such equal assessments from time to time, on all the shares in said company, as they may deem expedient and necessary, in the progress and execution 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. The board of directors shall have power to adopt rules and by-laws, regulating the manner and time of payment of all assessments they may order, under such penalties as they may deem proper.

Sec. 4. Said company shall be holden to pay all damages that may arise to any person or persons, by taking their lands, stone, or gravel, for the use of said rail road, when the same cannot be obtained by voluntary agreement, to be estimated and recovered in the manner provided by law for the recovery of damages happening by the laying out of highways.

Sec. 5. When the lands or other property, or estate of any married woman, infant, or person non compos mentis, shall be necessary for the construction of said rail road, the husband of such married woman, and the guardian of

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such infant, or person non compos mentis, may release all damages in relation to the land or estate, to be taken and appropriated as aforesaid, as fully as they might do if the same were holden in their right respectively.2

Sec. 6. If any person shall wilfully, maliciously or wantonly, and contrary to law, obstruct the passage of any car on said rail road, or any part thereof, or any thing belonging thereto, he, she, or they, or any person assisting, shall forfeit and pay to said company, for every such offence, treble such damages as shall be proved before any court competent to try the same, to be sued for in the name, and in behalf of said company; and such offender or offenders shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable to indictment in the same manner as other indictments are found, in any county or counties where such offence shall have been committed; and upon conviction such offenders shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, for the use of such county where the indictment may be found, or may be imprisoned not exceeding one year, at the discretion of the court before whom the conviction may be had.

Sec. 7. Said company shall so construct their said rail road across public highways so as not to hinder, obstruct, or interfere with the passage and free use of such public highways; and if said rail road shall not be so constructed, it shall be lawful for the persons aggrieved to abate the same, in the same manner as is now provided by law for the removal of obstructions to public highways.

Sec. 8. The time of holding the annual meetings of said company for the election of directors, shall be fixed and determined by the by-laws of said company; and at all meetings each stockholder shall be entitled to vote in person, or by proxy duly authorized, one vote for each share he or she may own.

Sec. 9. That Charles Hunt, Isaiah Stillman, Gabriel Walling, Lathrop W. Curtis, Alexander Wilson, Nathaniel B. Childs, Joel Wright, Jonas Breed, Starling Turner, John Orendoff and Lewis Bideman, or a majority of them, are hereby appointed commissioners to open subscription books for the stock of said company. Said commissioners, or a majority of them, are hereby authorized to open subscription books for said stock, at such places as they may deem proper, and shall give at least thirty days notice of the and place where such books shall be opened, and shall keep the same open for five days, unless the whole number of shares of said company shall be sooner subscribed; and they shall require each subscriber to pay one dollar on each share subscribed, at the time of subscribing; and at the termination of said term of five days, or sooner, if the whole amount of said shares shall be taken, said commissioners

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shall call a meeting of the stockholders, by giving ten days notice in some public newspaper printed in this state, of the time and place of such meeting. At such meeting it shall be lawful to elect the directors of said company, and when the directors of said company shall have been chosen, the said commissioners shall deliver said subscription books, together with all sums of money received by them, to said directors; Provided, That no election shall be held until the whole number of shares of said company shall have been subscribed; and provided also, that each director shall, at the time of the election, hold at least ten shares of the capital stock of said company.

Sec. 10. Said board of directors shall have power to make, ordain and establish, such by-laws, rules, and regulations and ordinances, as they may deem expedient and necessary to accomplish the purposes, and carry into effect the provisions of this act, and for the well ordering, regulating and securing the interests and affairs of said company; Provided, The same be not repugnant to the constitution and laws of this state, or of the United States.

Sec. 11. The said company shall, on or before the fourth day of July 1838, commence the construction of said rail road, and have the same completed within five years thereafter; and should the said company fail to have the said road commenced and completed as herein provided, in either case this act shall be null and void.

Sec. 12. Said company shall have a discretionary power to continue said rail road from Utica to Canton, in Fulton county, in the same manner and form, and upon the same conditions as herein granted, from the place of beginning on the Illinois river, to Utica; and for this purpose shall be vested with all the powers, privileges and immunities, heretofore granted in this charter, and shall be governed by the same rules, regulations and by-laws; Provided, Said company shall commence the construction of said proposed continuation within five years from the obtaining of this corporation, and complete the same previous to the expiration of this charter.

Sec. 13. Said company shall have further power, if they deem it most practicable, to construct a canal in lieu of the above named rail road, or any part thereof, under the same rules, regulations, by-laws and restrictions, and have the same powers, privileges and immunities, as heretofore granted, for the construction of the aforesaid rail road.

Sec. 14. The Legislature reserves the right to alter, amend or repeal this act, whenever in the opinion of the General Assembly the public good may require the same.

Approved 24th February, 1837.