Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Jan.[January] 31, 1840.

AN ACT to amend “An act incorporating the Calhoun Coal and Mining Company.”
1

Land may be located in Monroe county

Comp’ny may build a railr’d[railroad]

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the stockholders of the Calhoun Coal and Mining Company may locate a portion of the land authorised in the act to which this is an amendment, in the county of Monroe, with the privilege of building a rail road from their coal mines to the banks of the Mississippi river, the right of way to be procured in the same manner as is now provided in the act to obtain the right of way, and for other purposes, approved February 28, 1833.2

Capital stock may be increased to $100,000

Surplus capital may be used.

Sec. 2. The capital stock of said company, at any regular meeting of the stockholders, may be increased to one hundred thousand dollars, which capital, when paid in, shall have power to use their surplus capital in the same manner as is provided in the act granted to the Illinois Insurance Company, approved March 2, 1839.3

Approved, January 31, 1840.

1On December 30, 1839, George Smith introduced HB 82 in the House of Representatives. On January 13, 1840, the House passed the bill. On January 27, the Senate referred the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary. On January 30, the committee reported the bill favorably without an amendment, and the Senate passed the bill. On January 31, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Journal of the House of Representatives of the Eleventh General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at Their Called Session, Begun and Held at Springfield, December 9, 1839 (Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1839), 105, 122, 293, 306, 317; Journal of the Senate of the Eleventh General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at Their Called Session, Begun and Held in Springfield, December 9, 1839 (Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1839), 109-10, 186-87, 211.

2The law specified that, if a landowner was not willing to grant right of way, the commissioners of superintendent of the body seeking that right could appeal to the justice of the peace, who would assemble a committee of three landowners to assess damages and order payment.
“An Act Concerning the Right of Wat, and for Other Purposes,” Revised Laws (1833), 534-37.

3The act grants the right to lend surplus funds to other “companies, corporations, and individuals, upon personal or real security, at such rates of interest as may now be done by the existing laws of this State.”