Annual election,

Assessments.

Road to be located and completed, when.

Special powers.

Equipment, character of

Grant of lands.

four Directors of the said Corporation, who shall hold their offices three years and until their successors shall be elected and enter upon their duties. Vacancies which may from any cause occur in said Board of Directors may be filled by appointment by the majority of the Directors in office, and such appointment shall continue until the next annual election of Directors, when all vacancies shall be filled by election. The annual election shall be held at the office of the Secretary of said company, and the Secretary and two disinterested persons to be appointed by the Board of Directors shall be the Inspectors of Elections and shall canvass the votes and make and sign a certificate of the result, and the Secretary shall immediately notify the persons elected Directors of their election.

SEC. 8. The Board of Directors may at such times as they may deem necessary or proper assess upon the stock subscribed an instalment of not less than five or more than twenty per cent. and require payment of such instalment within a reasonable time, not less than thirty days from notice thereof, under the penalty of a forfeiture of the stock upon which the assessment was made.

SEC. 9. The said corporation shall locate at least twenty-five miles of the said Railroad and commence work thereon within three years from the time when this act shall take effect, and shall fully complete and equip at least one track from Winona to the Minneso ta river, with suitable and safe switches and turnouts within six years of the same time.

SEC. 10. For the purpose of constructing and using said Rail road the said corporation is authorised to construct their said Railroad and the necessary bridges across and over public highways and navigable streams: Provided, That it be so done as not to ob struct the highways, or to materially obstruct or impede the navigation of any navigable stream. And the said corporation is hereby authorised to contract with any other Railroad company or cor poration with whose road their road may come in contact, for the crossing or connection of such roads and for the joint use thereof.

SEC. 11. Every track of said Railroad shall be laid with the H or T rail of not less than sixty pounds per yard lineal, and all the engines, cars and other furniture shall be well made of good material and of approved form or kind, equal in quality to those of the best equipped and furnished Railroads in the United States.

SEC. 12. In case the Congress or Government of the United States has made or shall make any grant of lands in aid of the con struction of a Railroad running westerly from the village of Winona, such grant shall be deemed and taken to be in aid of the road to be made by the corporation hereby created unless otherwise expressly provided by the act of Congress making the grant; and iq case such grant shall convey the lands thereby given, to this Ter, ritory or any officer or officers thereof or to any State or States hereafter to be created out of this Territory or any officer or officers thereof, in trust for the use of such road directly or indirectly, the same shall be held by the Territory or officer or officers thereof, State or States or officer or officers thereof, as the case may be in trust for the corporation hereby created and in aid of the construction of their said Railroad and the same shall be applied in aid of such construction in manner following: As soon as the amount or number of acres of such grant of lands shall be ascertained, and the number of miles of the said Railroad shall be determined, the Secretary of the said company shall make and file in the office of the Secretary of the Territory, a statement showing the number of

acres of land contained in such grant for each and every mile of
Railroad. As soon as the said corporation shall have completed the
grading and track on ten miles or more of the Railroad and shall
produce to the said Secretary of the Territory satisfactory evidence
thereof, such Secretary shall make under his hand and the seal
of the Territory and deliver to the said company a certificate stat-
ing that the number of miles (not less than ten) of said Railroad is
completed and that the said company is therefore entitled to receive
and hold in fee
acres of land granted by Congress in aid
of the construction of their Railroad, [the number of acres to be
determined by the proportion of the whole number of acres to the
whole distance,] and the proper officer or officers authorised to
convey said lands shall upon the presentation of the said certificate
execute and deliver to said company a conveyance in due form of
law for the number of acres specified in said certificate of the lands
mentioned in the grant and nearest the part of the road so completed;
and the same application may be made by, and certificate and con-
veyance made to said company as often as ten or more additional
miles of such Railroad shall be completed.

SEC. 13. If any person shall wilfully obstruct or in any way injure, spoil or destroy the Railroad or any part of the Railroad or any thing affixed or appurtenant thereto, and necessary or convenient for its free and safe use, or any of the materials for the construction thereof, or any building, fixture, or other structure or carriage, engine or car, erected or kept for the use thereof, such persons shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and liable to be indicted and punished therefor by imprisonment in the Territorial Prison, for not more than ten years, and for not less than five years, and he shall also be liable to pay the company twice the amount of the damages occasioned thereby. And in case the death of any person shall be produced by or in consequence of any wilful or malicious obstruction or injury to the said Railroad or to any engine or car thereon, the person who shall so obstruct or injure the said railroad or car or engine thereou, shall be deemed guilty of murder in the second degree.

Punishment for injuring road.

and servants.

SEC. 14. Every conductor, baggage master or other agent or servant of the said company, and who shall be engaged in the ticket Badges of agents office or on the cars on said Railroad shall wear upon his hat or cap a plain badge which shall indicate his office or station, and no conductor or collector shall demand or be entitled to receive any fare or toll from any freighter or passenger, or exercise any control or e direction in his station or be authorised or allowed to interfere with any passenger, baggage or freight, without wearing such badge.

SEC. 15. Every locomotive engine on said Railroad shall be furnished with a good and sufficient alarm bell or whistle, and shall be fully sounded at least eighty rods distant from every highway crossing, while the engine either with or without a train of cars shall be passing over said road, and for every violation of this section the said company shall forfeit and pay to whomsoever shall .prosecute for the same the sum of one hundred dollars.

SEC. 16. This act is hereby declared to be a public act and the Legislature may at any time thereafter, alter, amend or repeal the same, and the same shall take effect immediately.

N. C. D. TAYLOR,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

S. B. OLMSTEAD,

President of the Council

APPROVED March fourth, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.

W. A. GORMAN.

SECRETARY'S OFFICE,

Saint Paul, March 30th, 1854.

I hereby certify the foregoing to be a correct copy of the original act on file in this office.

J. TRAVIS ROSSER,

Secretary of the Territory of Minnesota,

CHAPTER 34.

An Act to establish the County Seat of Hennepin County.

County seat established.

Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Minnesota, That the location of the County seat of Hennepin County at Minneapolis, made by the County Commissioners of said County, in November, 1852, be and the same is hereby established.

མཙྪཱ ཝཱ ཝཱ
(

SEC. 2.

This Act shall take effect from and after its passage.
N. C. D. TAYLOR,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Š. B. OLMSTEAD,

President of the Council.

APPROVED-February twenty-one, one thousand eight hundred and

fifty four.

W. A. GORMAN.

SECRETARY'S OFFICE,

St. Paul, April 3rd, 1854.

I hereby certify the foregoing to be a correct copy of the original act on file in this office.

J. TRAVIS ROSSER,

6

Secretary of the Territory of Minnesota.

Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Corporators Minnesota, That John George Lennon, Z. M. Brown, Edward names. Murphy, H. T. Wells, Isaac Atwater, Ard Godfrey, Charles King, John Rollins, A. M. Fridley, H. H. Sibley, H. C. Fletcher, C. T. Stearns, William A. Cheever, and R. P. Russell, and their associates, successors and assigns be, and they are hereby constituted a body politic and corporate, for the purpose hereinafter mentioned, by the name of the "Minnesota Bridge Company," for the term of thirty-five years, and by that name, they and their successors shall be, and they are hereby made capable in law, to contract and be contracted with, sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, prosecute and defend, answer and be answered, in any court of records, and elsewhere, and to purchase and hold any real estate, personal and mixed, and the same to grant, sell, lease, mortgage, or otherwise dispose of, for the benefit of said company, to devise and keep a common seal, to make and enforce any by-laws not contrary to the Constitution and Laws of the United States or of this Territory, and to enjoy all the privileges, franchises and immunities incident to a corporation.

SEC. 2. That the capital stock of said Company shall be thirty Capital stock. thousand dollars, in shares of one hundred dollars each, and the board of directors shall have power at any time, whenever a majority in value of the stockholders shall deem the same advisable, to increase the said capital stock to an amount not exceeding in the whole, eighty thousand dollars.

books.

SEC. 3. Any three of the individuals named in the first section Who shall open of this act, shall have power and be authorised to cause books to be opened in St. Anthony, and such place in Hennepin county, as they shall designate, for the purpose of receiving subscriptions to the capital stock of said Company, first giving two weeks notice in any two newspapers published in the Territory, of the time and place of opening such books.

SEC. 4. Whenever twelve thousand dollars of the capital stock shall have been subscribed, and ten dollars upon each share so subscribed for, shall have been actually paid in, any number of the said subscribers who shall represent a majority of the then subscription to said stock, shall be authorised to call a meeting of the several subscribers thereunto, by giving twenty days notice of the time and place of such meeting in any two newspapers published in this Territory, and of the subscribers who may be present at such meeting, so called, shall have power, and be authorised to elect a board of seven directors from the stockholders of said Company.

SEC. 5. The board of directors thus chosen, shall proceed to

i y

Meetings of Stockholders,

Officers their elect one of their number as President of said Company, and shall powers and du- also choose one person to act as both Treasurer and Secretary of

ties.

How long to remain in office.

President-his

duities.

said Company, and who shall give bonds to be approved by the President and Directors, to the said President and Directors, in such penal sum as they may require, conditioned for the proper discharge of his duties as Secretary and Treasurer; and at such first meeting, or as soon thereafter as practicable, said President and Directors shall prepare and adopt a code of by-laws, for the regulation and government of the affairs of said Company, which may be altered or amended at any subsequent meeting of said Board of Directors, by a majority thereof.

SEC. 6. The said officers, chosen as above provided, shall remain in their several offices until the first Monday in January, following such election, upon which said Monday, a meeting of the stockholders shall be held, and a board of seven Directors shall be chosen, who shall remain in office for one year thereafter, and un

til others are chosen in their stead; and annually of the son

the first Monday of January, of each year, a meeting of the stockholders shall be held, and a board of seven Directors chosen for the ensuing year: Provided, That a majority of the board of Directors shall have power to fill any vacancy that may occur for any cause, 'In said board, for the remainder of the term: Provided, also, That the President of said Company snall be chosen from the seven Directors thereof, and a Treasurer and Secretary, shall always be chosen by the said board of Directors, according to the provisions of the fifth section of this act.

SEC. 7. The President of the Company shall have power to call a meeting of the stock holders at any time, by giving not less than two weeks notice of the time and place of holding such meeting in any two newspapers, published in this Territory; and any four of the board of directors, or a majority in value of the stockholders, shall have like power to call such meeting in like manner; Provided, that the duties and powers of the said President, SecreAtary, and Treasurer, not in this act specifically set forth, shall be ́specified, and prescribed in the by-laws adopted by the board of directors, according to the provisions of the fifth section of this act??

Time and place of meeting.

Qualifications

of voters.

constructed.

نور

SEC. 8. The board of directors shall have power to fix the time and place of their meetings, the compensation of all officers of the company, and define their duties, to regulate the government of all meetings of their own board, and generally, shall have power to do all acts for the benefit and purposes of said company, not inconsis tent with the provisions of this act.

SEC. 9. Every share shall be entitled to one vote, and at any meeting for the choice of directors, the seven stockholders having the highest number of votes cast, shall be elected directors, and at every meeting of the board of directors, for the choice of President, the director having the highest number of votes cast, shall be elected President; Provided, that at any meeting of the stockholders, a majority in value shall constitute a quorum, with power to transact business, and at any meeting of the board of directors, any four of the board of directors, shall constitute a quorum to transact business.

Bridge, of what SEC. 10. The said company shall be and are hereby authorised and empowered to construct, maintain and keep a bridge across the Mississippi river, of such materials as the stockholders shall deem expedient, to be erected across said river, below and within two miles of the Falls of St. Anthony, and more than one mile distant