Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That John Ritchie, John Logan, William B. Cowan, Thomas Jenkins, William Lagate, John Croghan, Wm. Croghan, Richard Lane, John E. Cowen, Pierre Menard, Wm. Kinney, A. P. Field, and such other persons as may associate with them by subscribing stock as hereinafter authorized, be, and they are hereby, constituted a body politic and corporate for the term of fifty years, by the name of “The Mississippi Grand Tower Bridge Company;” and by that name they and their successors shall and may hereafter have succession, and shall, in law, be capable of suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded, answer and being answered unto, in all courts and places whatsoever; and they and their successors may have a common seal, and may alter and change the same at pleasure; and, also, they and their successors, by that name and style, shall be, in law, capable of purchasing, holding, and conveying any estate, real and personal, for the use of the said corporation; but the amount of real estate to be held and owned by said corporation shall never exceed one hundred and sixty acres; nor shall said corporation be permitted to carry on any commercial or manufacturing business, but shall confine their operations strictly to the erection and management of the bridge aforesaid.2

Sec. 2. That the capital stock of said company shall be two hundred and fifty thousand, with the privilege of increasing the same to five hundred thousand dollars by new subscriptions; in such manner and form as they shall think proper, if such increase shall be found necessary to (ful)fill the intent of this act; which said capital stock shall be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each, which shall be deemed personal property, and be transferable in such manner as said corporation shall in their by-laws order and direct.

Sec. 3. The said John Ritchie, John Logan,William B. Cowan , Thomas Jenkins, William Lagate, John Croghan,

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William Croghan, Richard Lane, John E. Cowan, Pierre Menard, William Kinney, and Alexander P. Field, are hereby appointed commissioners, the duty of whom it shall be to open books in the following places, to wit: at St. Louis, Louisville, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Wheeling and such other places as the commissioners may deem necessary, and shall advertise the times and places of opening said books in the Carthagenian, and such other newspapers in this State or elsewhere as they may think proper, giving at least thirty days’ notice of the time and place of opening books. If the whole of the capital stock herein named shall not be subscribed for at the time and place appointed for such subscription, said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall take such measures for completing such subscription as they may deem expedient and proper; and every subscriber shall, at the time of subscribing, pay to said commissioners the sum of one dollar on each share subscribed.

Sec. 4. As soon as the capital stock shall be subscribed, the commissioners shall give notice thereof in like manner, and appoint the time and place, designating the same in said notice for such stockholders to meet for the purpose of choosing a board of directors, which shall consist of seven in number. Every stockholder shall be entitled, at such and all other elections, to one vote for each share to the number of ten, and one vote for every five additional shares; which votes may be given in person or by proxy. At the election to be held as aforesaid, the said commissioners, or such of them as may attend, shall be inspectors, and their certificates of the names of the persons elected shall be conclusive evidence of such election; and said commissioners shall deliver over the subscription books to the said directors, with the money received thereon. The said directors so chosen, and who may hereafter be chosen, shall immediately after their election proceed to choose one of their body to be president, who shall preside at all regular meetings of the board. A majority shall constitute a quorum; and, in case of the absence of the president, the board may appoint a president pro tempore to preside. The said board shall have the power to prescribe the time and place of holding all future elections for directors, which shall be once a year; and the said board of directors shall be vested with power to transact all the business of the incorporation in their corporate capacity, whose acts shall be binding on the same. The said board shall have power to fill all vacancies which may occur in their body; which appointment shall remain until the next annual meeting.

Sec. 5. The board of directors, when elected and organized, shall have power to make and prescribe such by-laws, rules, and regulations as to them shall appear needful and proper touching the management and disposition of the stock, property, and effects of said corporation, the transfer of shares,

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and touching the duties and conduct of their officers and servants, and all other matters whatsoever which may appertain to the concerns of the said corporation, shall appoint a secretary, treasurer, and such clerks as may be necessary for the transaction of business: Provided, That said by-laws be not repugnant to the constitution and laws of this State and of the United States.

Sec. 6. The said corporation are hereby authorized and empowered to erect a bridge over the Mississippi river, at the town of Grand Tower, in Jackson county. The manner and form of construction of said bridge shall be decided upon by said corporation: Provided, That said bridge shall be constructed and built of sufficient height to leave the steamboat channel in said river free from all obstruction that might retard the navigation of said Mississippi river, either in high or low water, and so as not to be in the way of any improvements of the navigation in said river that may hereafter take place.

Sec. 7. The said corporation shall be authorized to procure a sufficient quantity of land at each end of said bridge on which to build toll-houses and gates, and to afford room for the necessary transactions of the business of the concern; and in case of a disagreement betwixt the corporation and the owners of the land on the east side of said river, as to the value and price of said land, the same shall be ascertained by three disinterested freeholders of the county in which the lands lie, who shall be appointed for that purpose by the county commissioners’ court of the same county, on the application of eitheirparty, and shall be sworn to make a just valuation thereof; and when the said corporation shall have tendered to the owner or owners, or their agent or agents, the full amount of the valuation of said lands as assessed by the said freeholders, then the said corporation shall be deemed to be seized and possessed of the fee simple of all such lands or real estate; and it shall be the duty of the said freeholders, or a majority of them, to deliver to the said corporation a written statement of the award or awards they shall make, with the discription of the said lands, to be recorded in the recorder’s office of the county in which the lands lie.

Sec. 8. As soon as the said bridge shall be completed, it shall and may be lawful for the said corporation to erect a gate at the end of said bridge, and to demand and receive the same rates of toll for passing the same (as) may be then allowed to the ferries crossing the Mississippi within the limits of Jackson county. The said corporation shall obtain from the county commissioners’ court of Jackson county a list of rates of toll as established by them for the various ferries over the Mississippi within the limits of said county, (for which the same tax may be charged as is charged by the ferries aforesaid in such cases,) and shall set up in a conspicuous place, free for the

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inspection of travellers or other persons interested, the rates of toll as aforesaid.

Sec. 9. If any person or persons shall wilfully or maliciously do or cause to be done any act whatsoever, whereby the said bridge, or any thing appertaining to the same, shall be impaired, injured, or destroyed, the said person so offending shall forfeit and pay to the said corporation treble the amount of damages occasioned thereby, to be recovered by the said corporation, with cost of suits, in an action of trespass in any court having competent jurisdiction thereof.

Sec. 10. If any toll gatherer shall unreasonably delay or hinder any traveller from passing said bridge, or shall demand or receive more toll than is by this act established, he shall, for every such offence, forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding ten dollars, with cost, to be recovered before any justice of the peace of the county where such offence shall be committed, for the use of the person or persons so unlawfully delayed, hindered, or defrauded.

Sec. 11. It shall not be lawful for any person or persons to ride or drive over said bridge faster than in a walk, neither shall any person drive on more stock or teams at one time than shall be ordered or permitted by the toll-gatherer or attendant on said bridge, on penalty of forfeiting, for every such offence, the sum of five dollars, to be recovered before any justice of the peace as aforesaid.

Sec. 12. All officers or directors chosen at the annual election aforesaid shall hold their office until their next annual election, or until others are elected in their stead; and the president and directors, or a majority of them, shall have power to call a meeting of the board whenever they may deem it necessary, by publishing a notice of the time and place for holding the same thirty days previous to the time of said meeting.

Sec. 13. If the said bridge shall not be commenced in two years, and finished in ten years, after the passage of this act, the said corporation shall be dissolved, and this act of no effect.

Approved, February 6, 1839.