Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/350

332 proceed without delay to locate in a legal form all the land necessary to secure town sites, coal mines, and all important points whatsoever to the company. If upon due consideration any one wished to withdraw from the undertaking he was bound to hold his claim until a substitute could be provided. Each person remaining in the company agreed to pay the sum of five hundred dollars to the founder, from whom he would receive a certificate entitling him to one twentieth of the whole interest, subject to the regulations of the company, the projector of the enterprise being bound on his part to reveal to the company all the advantageous positions upon the bay or on Coquille river, and throughout the country, and to relinquish to the company his selections of land, the treasures he had discovered, both upon the earth or in it, and especially the stone-coal deposits by him found.

The members of the company seemed satisfied with the project, and lost no time in seizing upon the various positions supposed to be valuable. Empire City was taken up as a town site about the time the company was formed, and later Marshfield, and the affairs of