Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Daniel S. Witter, David W. Matthews, John Montague, William D. Abernathy, Joel Catlin, Calvin A. Warren, Isaac N. Morris, Isaac Galland, Mark Aldrich, Joseph Duncan, and Richard F. Barrett, their associates, successors, and assigns, are hereby created a body corporate and politic, under the name and style of “The Des Moines Rapids Railroad Company,” and by that name may be, and hereby are made, capable, in law and equity, to sue and be sued to final judgment and execution, plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended, in any courts of record, or in any other place whatever; to make, have, and use a common seal, and the same to break, renew, and alter at pleasure; and shall be, and are hereby, vested with all the powers, 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 company are hereby authorized and empowered to locate and construct, and finally complete, a railroad commencing on the Mississippi river at the head of the Des Moines rapids, at or near the town of Commerce, in Hancock county, and from thence, in the direction to Warsaw, to intersect the Peoria and Warsaw railroad at such point as shall be determined upon after a survey shall have been made of the route by and between the Board of Commissioners of Public Works2 and the said company; and for this purpose said company are authorized to lay out their said railroad wide enough for a single or double track through the whole length; and for the purpose of cutting, embankment, stone, and gravel, may take as much more land as may be necessary for the proper construction and security

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of said railroad: Provided, 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 be one hundred thousand dollars, with liberty to increase the same by new subscription, and in such manner and form as they shall think proper, if such increase shall be found necessary to fulfil the intent of this act; which said capital stock shall be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each; and the immediate government and direction of the affairs of said company shall be vested in five directors, who shall be chosen by the members of the company in the manner hereinafter provided, who shall hold their offices for one year, and until others shall be duly elected and qualified to take their places as directors; and the said directors, a majority of whom shall form a quorum for the transaction of business, shall elect one of their number 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 bond to the company, with sureties to the satisfaction of the directors.

Sec. 3. The president and directors for the time being are hereby authorized and empowered, by themselves or agents, to exercise all the powers and authority hereby granted, for the purpose of locating, constructing, and completing said railroad, and all such other powers and authority for the management of the affairs of said company, not heretofore granted, as may be necessary to carry into effect the object of this grant; to purchase and hold land, materials, and other necessary things, in the name of the company, for the use of the road; to make such equal assessments from time to time on all shares of said company as they may deem expedient and necessary in the progress and execution 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. The board of directors shall have power to adopt rules and by-laws regulating the manner and time of payment of all assessments they may order, under such penalties as they may deem proper.

Sec. 4. Said company shall be holden to pay all damages that may arise to any person or persons, corporation or corporations, by taking their lands, gravel, or stone for the use of said railroad, when the same cannot be obtained by voluntary agreement; which damages shall be ascertained in the same manner that damages are now ascertained in case of public roads running through the lands of individuals, some one of the directors acting in the stead of the supervisor in the general road laws.

Sec. 5. When the lands or other property or estate of any married woman, infant, or person non compos mentis, shall be necessary for the construction of said railroad, the husband of such married woman, and the guardian of such infant or person non compos mentis, may release all damages in relation to the land or estate to be taken and appropriated as aforesaid, as fully as they might do if the same were holden in their right respectively.

Sec. 6. If any person or persons shall wilfully, maliciously, or wantonly, and contrary to law, obstruct the passage of any car on said railroad, or any part thereof, or any thing belonging thereto, he, she, or they, or any person assisting, shall forfeit and pay to said company, for every such offence, treble the amount of such damages as shall be proved before any court competent to try the same, to be sued for in the name and in behalf of said company; and such offender or offenders shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable to indictment in the same manner as other indictments are found in any county or counties where such offence shall have been committed; and, upon conviction, such offender or offenders shall be liable to a fine, not exceeding five thousand dollars, for the use of the county where the indictment may be found, or may be imprisoned, not exceeding one year, at the discretion of the court before whom the conviction may be had.

Sec. 7. The time of holding the annual meeting of said company for the election of directors shall be fixed and determined by the by-laws of said company; and at all meetings, each stockholder shall be entitled to vote, in person or by lawful proxy, one vote for each share he, she, or they may hold bona fide in said stock; and a plurality of votes shall determine the choice.

Sec. 8[.] That Joseph Duncan, Richard F. Barrett, Daniel S. Witter, Mark Aldrich, Isaac Galland, and Calvin A. Warren are hereby appointed commissioners to open subscription books for the stock of said company. Said commissioners, or a majority of them, are hereby authorized to open subscription books for said stock, at such places as they may deem proper, and shall give at least thirty days’ notice of the time and place where such books will be opened, and shall keep the same open for five days unless the whole amount of capital stock of said company shall be sooner subscribed; and they shall require each subscriber to pay five dollars on each share subscribed at the time of subscribing; and at the termination of said term of five days or sooner, if the whole amount of said stock shall be taken, said commissioners shall call a meeting of the stockholders, by giving ten days’ notice, in some public newspaper printed in this State, of the time and place of such meeting. At such meeting, it shall be lawful to elect the directors of said company; and when the directors of said company shall have been chosen, the said commissioners shall deliver said subscription books, together with all sums of

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money received by them, to said directors: Provided, That each director shall, at the time of his election, own at least five shares of the capital stock of said company. Said corporation is hereby authorized to borrow any sum of money not exceeding their capital stock, and to make all such contracts as said corporation may deem necessary to carry into effect the powers and privileges hereby granted: Provided, That they shall not issue any drafts or checks or other instruments to be used as a circulating medium.

Sec. 9. That the right of way and the real estate purchased for the right of way by said company, whether by mutual agreement between the said corporation and the owner or owners of such land or real estate, or which shall become the property of said corporation by operation of law as in this act is provided, shall, upon the payment of the amount of money belonging to the owner or owners of such lands, as a compensation for the same, become the property of said corporation absolutely and in fee simple.

Sec. 10. That the Legislature reserves to itself the right to purchase the stock of said corporation at any time after the expiration of twenty years from the passage of this act, together with right of way, depots, fixtures, cars, and the other apparatus necessary for carrying on the business of said corporation, by paying to said company the value of said railroad, depots, cars, fixtures, &c.[etc]; and for the purpose of ascertaining the value thereof, the Legislature may appoint two or more commissioners, who shall proceed to ascertain, by inspection and the oath of witnesses, the actual value of the said railroad, depots, cars, and fixtures as aforesaid. The said corporation may take and transport upon the said railroad any person or persons, merchandize or other property, by the force and power of steam or animals, or any combination of them, and may erect and maintain houses, toll-gates and other buildings for the accommodation and management of the said railroad, and may fix, establish, take, and receive such rates of toll for all passengers and property transported upon the same as the said directors shall from time to time establish; and the directors are hereby authorized and empowered to make all necessary rules and by-laws, regulations and ordinances, that they may deem necessary and expedient to accomplish the designs and purposes, and to carry into effect the provisions of this act, and for the transfer and assignments of its stock, which is hereby declared personal property, and transferable in such manner as shall be provided by the by-laws and ordinances of said corporation.

Sec. 11. If the said corporation shall not commence the work within two years from the passage of this act, and complete the same within five years, then this act shall thenceforth cease and be void.3

Sec. 12. The company shall be permitted to connect the said railroad with the Peoria and Warsaw railroad at such convenient point only as the Board of Commissioners of Public Works shall deem expedient to protect the interest of the State, and prevent the said company’s road from coming into direct competition with the State works, and upon the conditions and under the restrictions prescribed in the forty-fifth4 section of the act, entitled “An act to establish and maintain a general system of internal improvement.”5

Sec. 13. The payment of the first instalment of the capital stock, required to be paid at the time of subscribing, shall not be evaded by the giving of promissory notes therefor, or otherwise; and so soon as five hundred shares of the said capital stock shall have been so subscribed, and the first instalment paid thereon as aforesaid, the company may be organized by the election of directors hereinbefore provided for.

Approved, February 19, 1839.6