Sec. [Section]1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That William C. Anderson, John D. Whiteside, and others, their associates and successors, are hereby constituted a body corporate and politic, by the corporate name of the “St. Clair Railroad Company,” and by that name shall have perpetual succession, and have power to contract and be contracted with, sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, in all courts and places; have a common seal and alter the same at pleasure, and shall have power to make by-laws not inconsistent with the laws of this State or of the United States, and shall have perpetual succession.

Sec. 2. The said company hereby incorporated may appoint any one or more of its members, or other person or persons, to manage, control, and direct the business and operations of said company according to such by-laws, rules and regulations of said company, as may be passed not inconsistent with law.

Sec. 3. The said company are hereby empowered to finish their railroad from the bluffs in St. Clair county, to the Mississippi river opposite St. Louis; and may also extend their said railroad from the place where it strikes the bluffs aforesaid, in a northerly direction along the base of said bluffs to the Great Western Mail route from Vincennes to St. Louis,2 and in a southerly direction, not to exceed one mile; and the said company are hereby empowered to acquire to themselves the right of way, not exceeding fifty feet in width, through the whole route of said railroad from the Great Western Mail route aforesaid, to the Mississippi at low water mark; and for the purpose of compensating the owner or owners of the land through which said railroad shall pass, if the same cannot be otherwise agreed upon, the said company may apply to the sheriff of said St. Clair county, to cause the damages, which any owner of land may sustain by reason of said road running over the same, to be assessed by a jury; whereupon the said sheriff shall cause a jury of six good and lawful men, who shall be of kin to neither the owner of said

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land, nor of any member of said company, who being by the said sheriff duly sworn to enquire of the damages, shall, in view of the land, certify the amount of damages which such owner may sustain by reason of the running of the road as aforesaid, which certificate shall be signed by the said jury, and shall also state the width and length of the land applied for by said company, and shall also contain a description of the same by metes and bounds, which finding and certificate of the jury shall be filed with and recorded by the recorder of St. Clair county aforesaid. And when the owner shall be paid, the amount of damages assessed shall vest the right of way in such described land in said company, but the said jury in assessing such damages, shall take into consideration the amount which the owner of the land will be benefitted, if any, by such railroad, and deduct the same from the value of the land condemned for right of way as aforesaid.

Sec. 4. The said company are hereby empowered to make and erect as many depots, and of such dimensions as shall be necessary for the convenient use of said railroad, and may acquire as much land as may be necessary by purchase or by an inquest of a jury in manner and form as is described in the preceding section for obtaining and acquiring the right of way; and after such an inquest in relation to the right of way as aforesaid, or in relation to land necessary for a depot as aforesaid, if the amount of damages assessed shall be duly paid or tendered to the owner or owners, agent or occupant of the land, no writ of injunction shall prevent said company, or other person acting under its authority, from making and using said railroad and depots aforesaid.

Sec. 5. The jury in assessing the damages aforesaid, shall not take into consideration any ferry privileges which may he supposed to be affected by the making of such road or depots.

Sec. 6. Said company shall cause a book to be opened subject at all times to the inspection of any member, which shall contain the names of all the members, and the estimated share of stock which each member may now or hereafter own; and the said shares may be transferred on the said books in the manner to be prescribed in the by-laws of said company, and each member shall share the loss of said company, if any, in proportion to the amount of his capital, and share the profits in proportion to his capital.

Sec. 7. Said company shall have power to acquire, own and employ steam power, or animal power, locomotives, cars and carriages, necessary for the transportation of passengers, coal, and every description of personal property on said road for themselves and all other persons.

Sec. 8. This act shall be considered a public act, and plead in all courts of law and equity.

Approved, February 26, 1841.3