NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD.

AN ACT

GRANTING LANDS TO AID IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF A RAILROAD AND TELEGRAPH LINE FROM LAKE SUPERIOR TO PUGET SOUND, ON THE PACIFIC COAST, BY THE NORTHERN ROUTE.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress Assembled:

That Richard D. Rice, John A. Poore, Samuel P. Strickland, Samuel C. Fessenden, Charles P. Kimball, Augustine Haines, Edwin R. W. Wiggin, Anson P. Morrill, Samuel J. Anderson, of Maine; Willard Sears, J. S. Withington, Josiah Perham, James M. Becket, A. W. Banfield, Abiel Abbott, John Newell, Austin L. Rogers, Nathaniel Green, Jr., Oliver Frost, John A. Bass, John O. Presbrey, George Shiverick, Edward Tyler, Filander J. Forristall, Ivory H. Pope, of Massachusetts; George Opdyke, Fairley Holmes, John Huggins, Philander Reed, George Briggs, Chauncey Vibbard, John C. Fremont, of New York; Ephraim Marsh, John P. Jackson, Jr., of New Jersey; S. M. Felton, John Toy, O. J. Dickey, B. F. Archer, G. W. Cass, J. Edgar Thompson, John A. Green, of Pennsylvania; T. M. Allyn, Moses W. Wilson, Horace Whittaker, Ira Bliss, of Connecticut; Joseph A. Gilmore, Onslow Stearns, E. P. Emerson, Frederick Smith, William E. Chandler, of New Hampshire, Cyrus Aldrich, H. M. Rice, John McKusick, H. C. Waite, Stephen Miller, of Minnesota; E. A. Chapin, John Gregory Smith, George Merrill, of Vermont; James Y. Smith, William S.

Slater, Isaac H. Southwick, Earl P. Mason, of Rhode Island;
Seth Fuller, William Kellogg, U. S. Grant, William B.
Ogden, William G. Greene, Leonard Sweat, Henry W.
Blodgett, Porter Sheldon, of Illinois; J. M. Winchell, Els-
worth Cheesebrough, James S. Emery, of Kansas; Richard
F. Perkins, Richard Chenery, Samuel Brannan, George
Rowland, Henry Platt, of California; William F. Mercer,
James W. Brownley, of Virginia; John H. B. Latrobe, W.
Prescott Smith, of Maryland; Greenbury Slack, A. J. Bore-
man, of West Virginia; Thomas E. Bramlette, Frank Shorin,
of Kentucky; John Crough, John A. Bingham, Oran Follett,
John Gardner, S. S. L. Hommedien, Harrison G. Blake,
Philo Chamberlain, of Ohio; John A. Duncan, Samuel M.
Harrington, of Delaware; Thomas A. Morris, Jesse L.
Williams, of Indiana; Samuel L. Case, Henry S. Hall, David
H. Jerome, Thomas D. Gilbert, C. A. Trowbridge, of Michi-
gan; Edward H. Broadhead, Alexander Mitchell, Benjamin
Ferguson, Levi Sterling,
Marshall, of Wisconsin;

J. C. Ainsworth, Orlando Humason, H. W. Corbett, Henry Failling, of Oregon; J. B. S. Todd, M. K. Armstrong, J. Shaw Gregory, J. L. Berge, of Dakota Territory; John Mullan, Anson G. Henry, S. D. Smith, Charles Terry, of Washington Territory; H. W. Starr, Platt Smith, Nixon Denton, William Leighton, B. F. Allen, Reuben Noble, John L. Davies, of Iowa; Willard P. Hall, George R. Smith, N. Gayle King, John C. Sargeant, of Missouri; William H. Wallace, of Idaho Territory; J. H. Lathrop, Henry D. Cooke, H. E. Merrick, of the District of Columbia, and all such other persons who shall, or may be associated with them, and their successors, are hereby created and erected into a body corporate and politic, in deed and in law, by the name, style, and title of the "Northern Pacific Railroad Company," and by that name shall have perpetual succession, and shall be

able to sue and to be sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended, in all courts of law and equity within the United States, and may make and have a common seal. And said corporation is hereby authorized and empowered to lay out, locate, construct, furnish, maintain, and enjoy a continuous railroad and telegraph line, with the appurtenances, namely, beginning at a point on Lake Superior, in the State of Minnesota or Wisconsin; thence westerly by the most eligible railroad route, as shall be determined by said company, within the territory of the United States, on a line north of the forty-fifth degree of latitude, to some point on Puget Sound, with a branch, via the valley of the Columbia River, to a point at or near Portland, in the State of Oregon, leaving the main trunk line at the most suitable place, not more than three hundred miles from its western terminus; and is hereby vested with all the powers, privileges, and immunities necessary to carry into effect the purposes of this Act as herein set forth. The capital stock of said company shall consist of one million shares of one hundred dollars each, which shall in all respects be deemed personal property, and shall be transferable in such manner as the by-laws of said corporation shall provide. The persons hereinbefore named are hereby appointed commissioners, and shall be called the Board of Commissioners of the "Northern Pacific Railroad Company," and fifteen shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. The first meeting of said Board of Commissioners shall be held at the Melodeon Hall, in the city of Boston, at such time as any five commissioners herein named from Massachusetts shall appoint, not more than three months after the passage of this act, notice of which shall be given by them to the other commissioners, by publishing said notice in at least one daily newspaper in the cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Milwaukie, and Chicago,

once a week, at least four weeks previous to the day of meeting. Said board shall organize by the choice from its number, of a President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer, and they shall require from said Treasurer such bonds as may be deemed proper, and may from time to time increase the amount thereof as they may deem proper. The Secretary shall be sworn to the faithful performance of his duties, and such oath shall be entered upon the records of the company signed by him, and the oath verified thereon. The President and Secretary of said board shall in like manner call all other meetings, naming the time and place thereof. It shall be the duty of said Board of Commissioners to open books or cause books to be opened, at such times and in such principal cities or other places in the United States as they or a quorum of them shall determine, within six months after the passage of this Act, to receive subscriptions to the capital stock of said corporation, and a cash payment of ten per centum on all subscriptions, and to receipt therefor; so soon as twenty thousand shares shall in good faith be subscribed for, and ten dollars per share actually paid into the treasury of the company, the said President and Secretary of said Board of Commissioners shall appoint a time and place for the first meeting of the subscribers to the stock of said company, and shall give notice thereof in at least one newspaper in each State in which subscription books have been opened, at least fifteen days previous to the day of meeting, and such subscribers as shall attend the meeting so called, either in person or by lawful proxy, then and there shall elect, by ballot, thirteen directors for said corporation; and in such election each share of said capital stock shall entitle the owner thereof to one vote. The President and Secretary of the Board of Commissioners, and in case of their absence or inability, any two of the officers of said board, shall act as inspectors of said election, and shall certify under

their hands the names of the directors elected at said meeting, and the said Commissioners, Treasurer, and Secretary, shall then deliver over to said directors, all the properties, subscription books, and other books in their possession, and thereupon the duties of said commissioners and the officers, previously appointed by them shall cease and determine forever, and thereafter the stockholders shall constitute said body politic and corporate. Annual meetings of the stockholders of the said corporation for the choice of officers (when they are to be chosen) and for the transaction of business shall be holden at such time and place, and upon such notice as may be prescribed in the By-laws.

SECTION 2. And be it further enacted, That the right of way through the public lands be, and the same is hereby granted to said "Northern Pacific Railroad Company," its successors and assigns, for the construction of a railroad and telegraph as proposed; and the right, power, and authority is hereby given to said corporation to take from the public lands adjacent to the line of said road material of earth, stone, timber, and so forth, for the construction thereof; said way is granted to said railroad to the extent of two hundred feet in width on each side of said railroad, where it may pass through the public domain, including all necessary ground for station buildings, workshops, depots, machine shops, switches, side-tracks, turntables, and water-stations; and the right of way shall be exempt from taxation within the Territories of the United States. The United States shall extinguish as rapidly as may be consistent with public policy and the welfare of the said Indians, the Indian titles to all lands falling under the operations of this Act, and acquired in the donation to the [road] named in this bill.

SECT. 3 And be it further enacted, That there be, and hereby is, granted to the "Northern Pacific Railroad Company,"