Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That Nathaniel Pope, Pierre Menard, David J. Baker, John P. McGinnis, Ferdinand Maxwell, Hippolite Menard, senr., Miles A. Gilbert, John A. Langlois and William Brewster, with their

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associates be and they are hereby created a body politic and corporate by the name and style of the “Kaskaskia Bridge Company,” for the purpose of erecting and constructing a bridge over the Kaskaskia river at Kaskaskia; and they and their associates and successors shall continue and have perpetual succession, and by that name and style are hereby made as capable in law as natural persons to contract and be contracted with, to sue and be sued, to plead and be impleaded in this State in all courts of law or equity: to make, have, and use a common seal; and the same to break, alter or amend at pleasure, and they and their successors shall have the power to purchase and hold as much real estate as will be necessary for the site of said bridge, abutments, toll houses, and suitable avenues leading to the same, also the power to ordain and establish such by-laws, ordinances and regulations as shall be necessary for the well-being and government of said corporation, not incompatible with the laws of this State, or of the United States.

Sec. 2. The capital stock of said company shall consist of ten thousand dollars, to be divided into shares of twenty dollars each, to be subscribed for in the manner hereinafter mentioned: Provided, if the amount above stated is insufficient to complete the bridge, it may be increased to a sufficient sum to accomplish the same.

Sec. 3. Within one year after the passage of this act, the persons before named, or a majority of them, shall cause books for the subscription of stock of said company to be opened at such times and places as they may direct, which books shall be kept open under the direction of such persons or a majority of them, for such length of time as they may order. Every subscriber shall at the time of subscribing pay one dollar on each share subscribed.

Sec. 4. As soon as five thousand dollars shall be subscribed, the said persons, or a majority of them, shall advertise a meeting of the stockholders, at Kaskaskia, giving at least ten days notice of the time and place of such meet- and the stockholders shall thereupon proceed to the election of a President and four Directors, who shall be shareholders. Ane such of the before mentioned persons who shall not be share-holders, shall cease to be members of said corporation; and the said share-holders shall also proceed to ordain and adopt such by-laws for the permanent organization and government of said corporation as they may deem needful; at which meeting each shareholder shall be entitled to one vote for each share not exceeding five, and one vote for every five shares above five and not exceeding twenty, and one vote for every ten shares above twenty, and at all the subsequent elections or

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or general meetings of the stockholders, the shares in said company may be voted proxy duly recorded.

Sec. 5. The President and Directors chosen in conformity to the provisions of the foregoing sections shall hold their office for one year next succeeding such election and until others are chosen in their places; and the stockholders shall annually meet at Kaskaskia on the first Monday in the month that the first election may be held, at some place to be designated by said president and directors, and then proceed to the election of a President and four Directors, who shall be share-holders, and hold their offices for one year and until their successors shall be elected as aforesaid. Public notice shall be given of such meetings or elections by the clerk or secretary of the company at least fifteen days previous thereto. At the annual meetings, a statement of the affairs of the company shall be made out by the President and directors and presented to said meeting, and such dividend of the profits be declared as may be deemed advisable.

Sec. 6. The concerns of said corporation shall be under the control, superintendence and management of said president and directors, and the president and two directors shall constitute a quorum to transact business, or, in the absence of the president, any three directors, one of whom shall act as president pro tem, with power to fill any vacancy in the board, occasioned by death, resignation, or otherwise. The president and directors, after they shall have been duly elected as aforesaid, may make such assessments on the shares of said company as are subscribed, payable at such periods as they may deem advisable, with such conditions of forfeiture for non-compliance not exceeding the amount of stock delinquent as they may deem proper. They are to open or renew the subscriptions for shares not already subscribed, at such time and place as the interest of the company may require.

Sec. 7. The said president and directors or their agents may enter upon and take possession of so much land on each side of the said river as may be necessary for the erection of said bridge, and upon receiving a conveyance for the same, shall pay to the owner or owners the full value thereof, and in case of a disagreement between the parties as to such value the same may be ascertained by three disinterested freeholders of Randolph county, who shall be appointed for that purpose by the county commissioners’ court of said county, on the application of either party, who shall be sworn to make a just valuation thereof. The amount of such valuation shall be paid by the said corporation to the owner or owners thereof, or to the guardian or guardians of said owner or owners if they are

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infants, or into the county treasury for the use of said owner or owners if they are unknown; and the said corporation may then and there enter upon and take possession of the said land for the purposes aforesaid.

Sec. 8. It shall be the duty of the president and directors to appoint a clerk and cause a record of their proceedings to be kept. They may also appoint a treasurer and other officers or agents as they may deem needful for the proposed undertaking, and to allow them such pay or compensation as they may agree on, to make contracts and do all things necessary to carry the aforesaid object into immediate effect and execution, and to require or take such bonds or other security in their corporate capacity, from any person or persons they may so appoint or contract with. And any vacancy filled by the board of directors shall continue until the next annual meeting.

Sec. 9. The said bridge shall be constructed with a convenient draw, at least thirty feet wide for the passage of steamboats and other vessels; and shall keep good and sufficient lights on each side of said draw, at all proper times, and shall also keep some suitable person or persons at the said bridge, who shall raise said draw when it may be necessary for the passage of any steamboat or other vessel passing up or dows said river free from expense to the owners thereof. And when so constructed and completed the county commissioners of Randolph county shall have power to establish from time to time such rates of toll as they may think reasonable for passing over said bridge, and the same shall be posted up in some conspicuous place or places on or near said bridge; and the corporation shall have power to demand and collect the said rates of toll from all and every person or persons passing thereon with their goods, carriages, wagons, or animals of every kind and description: Provided, however, that the rates of toll thus established shall never exceed the rates of toll established by the said commissioners for crossing the ferries in the said county: Provided also, that the citizens of Randolph county shall pass the said bridge free of toll.2

Sec. 10. If any person or persons shall wilfully or knowingly do any act or thing whatever, whereby the said bridge, or any thing thereto belonging, shall be injured or damaged, the said person or persons so offending, shall forfeit and pay three times the amount of damages sustained with costs of suit recoverable before any court of competent jurisdiction, and any person or persons who shall pass or attempt to pass said bridge without paying the toll or tendering it if there be any person or persons present to receive it, shall forfeit and pay three times the amount of the toll or tolls which he, she, or they were liable to pay

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for passing said bridge, recoverable before any justice of the peace in this State, and if any person or persons shall wilfully set fire to said bridge or burn the same or any part thereof, such offenders with their aiders and abettors shall be guilty of arson.

Sec. 11. Certificates of stock shall be given to the stock holders, which shall be evidence of the stock held; they shall be signed by the President and countersigned by the clerk. The stock shall be transferable on the books of the corporation only personally, or by an agent or attorney, or by the administrator, executor, trustee or guarguardian. But such stock shall at all times be holden by the corporation for any dues from the holder thereof to the corporation, or for any sum that may thereafter become due on a contract made prior to such transfer.

Sec. 12. This act shall cease to have effect if stock to the amount of five thousand dollars shall not be taken within two years from the first day of January next, and the bridge to be completed in three years from that period.

Sec. 13. It shall be the duty of said company from time to time to remove all drift or timber of any description which may lodge against any of the abutments or pillars of said bridge, and if they fail herein, they shall be liable to a fine of ten dollars for every forty-eight hours it is suffered to remain after allowing reasonable time for the removal of the same, to be recoverable by indictment or presentment in the Randolph circuit court, and shall moreover be liable for any injury sustained by any person in consequence thereof.

Sec. 14. The said president and directors shall keep an exact account of their expenditures in erecting said bridge, and file the same with the clerk of the county commissioners’ court of Randolph county, stating, under oath, that the same is a just and true account of the original cost of said bridge; and the county commissioners’ court shall have power to purchase said bridge at any time after the expiration of five years from the completion of said bridge, by paying the full amount of the cost of the same; and in case the said bridge shall be purchased by said court, the corporation hereby created shall within one year thereafter be dissolved, and said bridge forever after be and remain a free bridge.

Sec. 15. It shall be lawful for the county commissioners of Randolph county for and on behalf of said county, to authorise by an order as much of the stock to be taken as they may think proper, and if the Legislature of this State shall, after the expiration of ten years from the completion of said bridge, make provision by law for the repayment to the said company, the amount of their expen-

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ditures with interest thereon, at the rate of ten per cent. per annum after deducting the amount of tolls received on said bridge, then and in that case the said bridge, with all its fixtures and appurtanances shall vest in and become the property of the people of the State.

This act to be in force from and after its passage.

Approved January 31, 1837.