Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Pierre Menard, Nathaniel Pope, Edward Humphreys, John P. McGinnis, Hippolite Menard, Miles A. Gilbert, William Brews-

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ter, John A. Langlois, James Hughes, and David J. Baker, and their associates, successors, and assigns, be and they are hereby made a body politic and corporate, under the name of the “Kaskaskia 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 contracting and being contracted with, and of purchasing, holding, and conveying real and personal estate for the uses and purposes of said corporation; and shall be and are hereby vested with all the 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 corporation are hereby authorised and empowered to locate and finally complete a rail road, with a single or double track, commencing at or near the Kaskaskia Landing, on the Mississippi river, and running thence east to a point on the Kaskaskia river, at or near the town of Kaskaskia, in the county of Randolph, in such manner and form as they shall deem most expedient; and for this purpose said company are hereby authorised to lay out their road not exceeding ten rods wide through its whole length; and for the purpose of cutting embankments, and procuring timber, 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 occasioned to any person or corporation by the taking of such lands 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 five hundred shares; 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; a majority of whom shall form a quorum for the transaction of business, shall elect one of their member to be president of the board, who also shall 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 corporation, with sureties to the satisfaction of the directors for the faithful discharge of his duty.

Sec. 3. The president and directors for the time being, are hereby authorised and empowered, by themselves or

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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 merchandise, and all such powers and authority for the management of the affairs of the company, not heretofore granted, as may be necessary and proper, to carry into effect the objects of this company; to purchase and hold lands, 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 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 company, 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 transferred to the purchaser, and such delinquent subscribers 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 interests and costs of sale, and shall be entitled to the overplus, if his share or shares sell for more than the assessment due, with interests and costs of sale: Provided, however, That no assessment shall be laid upon any share or 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 by-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, aud for the transfer and assignment of its stock and the conveyance of property, and the well ordering, regulating, and securing of the interest and affairs of the company; Provided, however, 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 description 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 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 the said rail road, shall be in con-

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formity 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 rail road the nett income or receipts from tolls taken, the ten years aforesaid, as a basis of calculation, shall have amounted to more than twelue per centum upon the costs of the 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, ealculating the amount of transportation upon the road to be the same as the preceding ten years and at the expiration of every ten years thereafter, the same proceedings may be had: Provided, further, That the said rail road shall be commenced within two years from July next, and completed within five years thereafter.

Sec. 6. The directors of said company for the time being are hereby authorised to erect toll-houses, warehouses, and other necessary buildings, establish gates, appoint toll gatherers, and demand toll upon the road when completed, 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, or corporation or coporations, by taking their land for said rail road, when it cannot be done by voluntary agreement, to be estimated and recovered in the manner provided for by law, for the recovery of damages happening by the laying out of highways.

Sec. 8. When the lands or other property or estate of any feme covert, infant, or persons non compos 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 compos mentis, may release all damages for any lands or estates taken or appropriated as aforesaid, as they might do if the same were holden by them in their own rights respectively.2

Sec. 9. If any person shall wilfully do or cause to be done any act or acts whatever, whereby any building, construction, or work of said corporation, or any engine, machine, or structure, or any matter or thing appertaining to the same, shall be stopped, obstructed, impaired, weakened, injured, or destroyed, the person or persons so offending shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall forfeit and pay to the said corporation treble the amount of damages sustained by means of such offence or injury, to be recovered in the name of said corporation, with costs of suit, by action of debt, and shall be subject

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to indictment and punishment for high crimes and misdemeanors as in other cases.

Sec. 10. The annual meeting of the members of said company shall be holden on the first Monday in November in each year at Kaskaskia. At which meeting the directors shall be chosen by ballot, each proprietor being entitled to as many votes as he holds shares; and any two of the individuals named in the first section of this act are hereby authorised to call the first meeting of said company, by giving notice in some public newspaper of general circulation, published in this state, stating 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.

Sec. 12. It shall be lawful for the legislature of this state at any time during the continuation of the charter of the said rail road after the expiration of twenty years from the completion of the rail road herein provided to be made, to purchase of the said company the said rail road and all the franchises, rights, and privileges of the said company, by paying them for the amount expended in making said road; and in case at the time of purchasing, the said company shall not have received a nett income equal to twelve per cent. per annum on the said expenditures from the time of the payment thereof to the stockholders, by paying the company such additional sums as, together with the tolls which they shall have received from the said rail road, will be equal to the nett profit of twelve per cent per annum, on the cost of said rail road from the date of the payment thereof by the stockholders of the said corporation to the time of such purchase.

Sec. 13. The said corporation is hereby authorised and empowered to continue the said rail road, by extending the same through Columbus, in Randolph county to Nashville, in Washington county; which continuation of said rail road shall be commenced within three years from the completion of the rail road authorised in the first section of this act, and subject to the same rules and regulations.

Sec. 14. It shall be lawful for said company to increase their capital stock to an amount sufficient to extend and complete the rail road authorised by this act, or any part thereof, 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.

Sec. 15. This act to be in force from its passage, and to be deemed a public act.

Approved 1st March, 1838[1837].