Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That John Winstanly, A. W. Snyder, Gustav P. Kermer, Henry Ottara and Isaac Tolin, and their associates, successors and assigns be and they are hereby created a body corporate and politic, under the name of the “Tamarawa and Mississippi Rail Road Company,” and by that name shall be and are hereby made capable in law to sue and be sued to final judgment and execution, plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended, in any court of record, or in any other place whatsoever; to make, have and use a common seal,

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and the same to renew or alter at pleasure; and shall be and are hereby vested with all the privileges, powers, and immunities, which are or may be necessary to carry into effect the purpose or object of this act, as hereafter set forth, and said company are hereby authorized and empowered to locate, construct, and finally complete, a rail road leading from the Mississippi river, near Wilcox’s ferry, to the town of Tamarawa, on the Kaskaskia river, in such manner and form as they shall deem to be most expedient, and for this purpose the said company are authorised to lay out their said road not exceeding six rods wide, through the whole length, and for the purpose of cuttings, embankments, and procuring stone and 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 land or materials for the purposes aforesaid, shall be paid for by said corporation, in the manner hereafter provided.

Sec. 2. The capital stock of said company shall consist of two thousand shares of one hundred dollars each, which shall be deemed personal property, and transferrable as other personal property; 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 choosen by the members of the corporation in the manner hereinafter provided, and shall hold their offices until others be duly 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 own 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 bonds to the corporation, with securities, to the satisfaction of the directors, in a sum not less than ten thousand dollars for the faithful discharge of his trust.

Sec. 3. The president and directors for the time being are hereby authorised 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 said company, not heretofore granted, as may be necessary and proper, and to carry into effect the object of this grant; to purchase and hold land, materials, engines, cars, and other necessary things, in the name of the corporation, for the use of said road, and for the transporta-

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tion of persons, goods and merchandize; to make such equal assessments from time to time, on all the shares of said company, 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 assessments 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 subscriber shall be held accountable to the company for the balance, if his share or shares sell for less than the assessment due thereon, with interest and cost of sale, and shall be entitled to the overplus of his share or shares, if they shall sell for more than the assessment due thereon, with interest and costs of sale: Provided however, That no assessment shall be laid upon any share in said company, of a greater amount 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, regulations, ordinances, as they shall deem expedient and necessary to accomplish the designs and purposes, and to carry into effect the provisions of this act, for the assignment and transfer of its stock, and for the well ordering, regulating, and securing of the interest 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 shall be and is hereby granted and established for the sole benefit of said company, upon passengers and property of all descriptions, which may be conveyed or transported upon said rail 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 rail road, shall be in conformity to such rules, regulations and provisions, as the directors from time to time, shall prescribe and direct; and such rail road may be used by any person who shall comply with such rules and regulations: Provided however, That if at the expiration of ten years from and after the completion of said road, the nett income or receipts for tolls and other profits, taking the ten years aforesaid as the basis of calculation, shall have amounted to more than ten per cent. per annum, upon the cost of said road, the legislature may take measures to alter and reduce the rates of toll and other profits,

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in such a 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 preceding 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 toll and other profits, as to produce less than ten per cent. upon the cost of said rail road, without the consent of the corporation.

Sec. 6. The directors of said company for the time being, are hereby authorised to erect toll houses, 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, 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 the laying out of high ways.

Sec. 8. When the lands or other property or estate of any feme covert, infant, or person non compos mentis, shall be taken for the use of the road as aforesaid, the husband of such feme covert, or guardian of such infant or person non compos mentis, may release all damages for any lands or estate, taken or appropriated as aforesaid, as they might do if the same were holden by them in their own right respectively.2

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 materials or implements to be employed in the construction or for the use of said road, he, she or they, or any person or persons assisting, aiding or abetting in such trespass, shall forfeit and pay to said company for every such offence, treble such damages, as shall be proved before the justice court or jury, before which 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 company, 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 inquest 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 dollars, nor less than thirty dollars, to the state, or may be imprisoned for a term

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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 first Monday of June, at such time and place as the directors for the time being may appoint, at which meeting the directors shall be choosen by ballot, each proprietor being entitled to as many votes as he holds shares: Provided, That no vote shall be given by any proprietor, by reason of any share held by him, exceeding one tenth part of the whole number of shares; and the person first named or any two of the persons named herein, are hereby authorised to call the first meeting of said corporation, by giving notice in the Saint Clair Gazette of the time and place, and purpose of such meeting, at least fifteen days before the time mentioned in such notice.

Sec. 11. If the said rail road, in the course thereof, cross any river, canal, turnpike, or highway, the said corporation shall so construct said rail road as not to obstruct the safe and convenient use of such river, canal, or turnpike or highway.

Sec. 12. If said company shall not have been organized, and the location of the route filed with the county commissioners of the county or counties in which the land proposed to be taken for the use of said rail road is situate, previous to the first day of September, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and forty, and if said corporation shall fail to complete said rail road, on or before the first day of January, eighteen hundred and fifty, in either of the above named cases, this act shall be null and void.

Sec. 13. The said rail road company shall constantly maintain in good repair all bridges, with their abutments and embankments, which they may construct for the purpose of conducting their rail road over any canal, river, turnpike or other highway.

Sec. 14. It shall be in the power of the state, at any time during the continuance of this charter, after the expiration of thirty years from the opening for use of the rail road through, provided it be made, to purchase of said company the said rail road, and all the franchises, rights and privileges of the said company, by paying them therefor the amount expended in making said rail road, with twelve per cent.3 interest thereon, and after such purchase, the limitation provided in the fifth section of this act shall cease and be of no effect. And it shall be the duty of said company, from year to year, to make report to the legislature of their acts and doings, receipts and expenditures, under the provisions of this act.

Sec. 15. The shares of the capital stock of the Monroe

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mining, manufacturing, and exporting company, shall be taken and deemed personal property, and transferrable in such manner as shall be established by the by-laws of said company.

Approved 3d March, 1837.