Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Thomas G. Hawley, William S. Gilman, W. L. D. Ewing, R. K. McLaughlin, Robert Blackwell, Nathaniel Buckmaster, Thomas Keys, S. L. Wait, George W. Walworth, Enoch Long, Stephen Griggs, Gersham Flagg, John W. Buffrum, A. Hoxey, and Robert Smith, and their associates and successors in office, be, and they are hereby, constituted a body politic and corporate, by the name and style of “The Vandalia and Alton Turnpike Road Company;” and, by that name and style, they and their successors shall be capable, in law and equity, of contracting and being contracted with, suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded, answering and being answered, defending and being defended, in all courts whatsoever. They may have a common seal, and change and alter the same at pleasure; and do and perform all other acts and things which may be necessary to accomplish the building of the aforesaid turnpike road. They are hereby invested with all the privileges and advantages usually belonging to corporations in purchasing, taking, holding, enjoying, selling, and transferring, any real or personal estate, by gift, grant, purchase, or otherwise, which may be necessarry to facilitate the aforesaid object.

Sec. 2. The capital stock of the company shall be five hundred thousand dollars, to be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each, payable in five equal annual instalments; and each person, at the time of subscribing for stock in said company, shall give a note in the following form: “For value received, I promise to pay to the president and directors of the Vandalia and Alton Turnpike Road Company, the sum of dollars and cents, in five equal annual instalments;” which notes shall be taken and deemed to have been given for a good and valuable consideration, and made be sued for, and recovered, in any court, in the same manner as though they were given to private individuals; and in all cases arising under this act, or in which said company may be party, plaintiff or defendant, the several courts of this State shall have the same jurisdiction as they would have in suits upon contracts between natural persons.

Sec. 3. Whenever one or more instalments fall due upon any note given to said company, it shall be lawful to sue for and recover so much money as may be due thereon, by filing a copy of the note in the court in which suit is instituted; and in all suits brought by or against said company, the right of appeal shall be allowed to either party in the same manner as now is or hereafter may be prescribed by law in controversy between individuals.

Sec. 4. The individuals named in the first section of this act shall be the directors of the company for one year after the

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company is organized, and until their successors in office are duly elected and qualified; and they shall proceed to elect one of their body president, and shall also have power to appoint a secretary, treasurer, and superintendent of the road, whom they may remove at pleasure, and may also require such bonds of said officers as they may deem right and proper for the security of the interest of the persons concerned or the public, and may pay them such compensation as they may think right and proper.

Sec. 5. The directors shall meet at Alton, at such time as a majority may determine, by giving at least three weeks’ notice in some paper printed in Vandalia and Alton; at which meeting they shall elect their president and other officers. A majority of the board shall be a quorum to do business; and all subsequent meetings shall be held at such time and place as the board may appoint and direct.

Sec. 6. The company aforesaid shall have power to give and receive promissory notes, checks, bonds, bills of exchange, mortgages, deeds, bills of sale, and all other instruments of writing, for the purpose of conducting and carrying on the building of the aforesaid turnpike road, and for none other; and all the money and property which may come to the hands of said company shall be faithfully and exclusively applied to, and expended in, making the aforesaid turnpike road: Provided, That said company shall neither have nor exercise any other powers than those connected with the improvement aforesaid.

Sec. 7. All bonds, checks, notes, or bills of exchange, given by said company, shall be signed by the president, and countersigned by the secretary; and all instruments conveying either real or personal estate shall be signed in like manner by the president and secretary; and all conveyances or other contracts shall be given and made in the name of the president and directors of said company.

Sec. 8. Said company are hereby authorized to receive subscriptions and voluntary contributions for the promotion of the improvement aforesaid, either in money, labor, or any other valuable thing, and secure the payment thereof in such manner as to them shall seem best; and when said subscription is paid, it shall be the duty of the president to give a proper receipt therefor.

Sec. 9. The directors shall appoint a time and place to hold an election for new directors in each year; at which election, the stockholders shall respectively be entitled to one vote for each share of stock; and they may vote, in person or by proxy, for nine directors, who shall manage and conduct the affairs of said company.

Sec. 10. Said company shall have power, and they are hereby authorized, to enter upon and use any lands, timber, rock, gravel, or any other material that may be necessary in the prosecution of the work aforesaid; and they shall pay all

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damages that may arise to any person or persons by taking or using their property aforesaid, for the purpose of constructing and keeping in repair said road; and when the same be agreed on voluntarily by the parties, the amount to be paid shall be fixed and determined in the manner laid down for the recovery of damages caused by the laying out public highways.

Sec. 11. Where the lands or other property or estate of any married woman, infants, or persons non compos mentis, shall be necessary for the construction of said works, the husband of said married woman, and guardian of such infants or persons non compos mentis, may release all damages in relation to the estate or lands to be taken and appropriated as aforesaid, as fully as they might do if the same was holden in their right respectively.

Sec. 12. Said company shall have full power, and they are hereby authorized, to cause to be surveyed, located, and constructed, a turnpike road, not exceeding eighty feet wide, from Vandalia, by Greenville, to the Mississippi river at Alton; or on such route between said extreme points as will, in their opinion, best promote the objects of said corporation. They may commence the construction of said road at such point or points as they may deem most expedient and proper, and prosecute the same to final completion as fast as the means of the company will admit.

Sec. 13. Should any donation or donations of land, money, or other valuable thing, be made to said company for the promotion and advancement of the object aforesaid, either by the National or State Government2, it shall be the duty of said company to use and appropriate such donation as aforesaid solely and exclusively to the construction of said road.

Sec. 14. The directors, for the purpose of procuring money to progress immediately with the work aforesaid, may make such deduction as they may think is right, to those who pay for their stock in advance; or, if they think proper, the directors may borrow, for the purpose aforesaid, any sum not exceeding the whole amount of their capital stock.

Sec. 15. As soon as the said company shall have completed the aforesaid road, or any continuous ten miles thereof, they may then erect a gate or gates, at suitable distances apart, not less than ten miles, and demand and receive, of persons travelling said road, a reasonable toll, not exceeding the tolls allowed to the Wabash and Mississippi Turnpike Company: Provided, That all persons going to, and returning from, public worship, and militia-men going to, and returning from, musters, and all funeral processions, shall pass said road free of toll: Provided, also, That the Legislature may, at any time, regulate the rates of toll to be required by said company.

Sec. 16. The company shall cause to be kept a fair account of the whole expense of making and repairing said road, with all incidental expenses; and also a fair account of

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the toll received; and the State shall have the right to purchase of the company said road, at any time, by paying to said company a sum of money which, together with the tolls received, shall equal the cost and expenses of said turnpike road, with an interest of ten per centum per annum: Provided, also, The said company shall surrender said road, on like terms, to the National Government, at any time when they may signify their intention to continue the Cumberland road, from Vandalia to the Mississippi river, on the line of this road.

Sec. 17. The persons named in the first section of this act be, and they are hereby, appointed commissioners to open books, and solicit the subscription of stock of said company; and for that purpose, said commissioners may open books at such time and place as a majority of them may deem most expedient; so that all persons who wish to take stock, or to give any voluntary contributions for constructing said road, may have an opportunity to do so; and all subscriptions so received by said commissioners shall be transmitted to the president of the company aforesaid.

Sec. 18. This act shall continue in force twenty years, shall be deemed a public act, and shall be liberally construed for all the purposes therein named.

Approved, March 2, 1839.