Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 4.djvu/849



That the president and directors of the Potowmac Company be, and they are hereby, authorized and required, in the name and behalf of this company, whenever, agreeably to the terms and provisions of the aforesaid act of Virginia, entitled “An act incorporating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company,” the subscribers therein mentioned and referred to shall have become incorporated, to make a surrender of the charter of the Potowmac Company, to the said Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, and to convey in due form of law to the said Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, all the property, rights, and privileges, owned, possessed, and enjoyed, by the said Potowmac Company, under their said charter, to be held, used, and occupied, by the said Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, in the same manner and to the same effect, as the said Potowmac Company now hold, possess, and occupy the same by law. And it is hereby resolved and declared, that, upon the completion of the said surrender and conveyance by the said president and directors, to be evidenced by deed or deeds, in the name of this company, under the hands of the said president and directors, or a majority of them, and the corporate seal of this company, the said charter shall be, and hereby is, effectually surrendered, and all the said property, rights, and privileges, shall be, and hereby are, effectually conveyed to the said Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, according to the tenor and effect, true intent and meaning, of the said act and acts so incorporating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, as aforesaid.

In testimony whereof, as the corporate act of the Potowmac Company, &c.

Office of the Potowmac Company,

, 16th May, 1825.

I certify the foregoing to be a true and faithful extract from the records of the proceedings of the Potowmac Company.

Treasurer and Clerk, Potowmac Company.

. And be it enacted, That the said president and directors, so elected, and their successors, or a majority of them assembled, shall have full power and authority to agree with any person or persons, on behalf of the said company, to cut such canals, and erect such locks, and perform such other works as they may judge necessary, for opening, improving, and extending the navigation of the said river, above tide water, to the highest part of the North Branch, to which navigation can be extended, and carrying on the same from place to place, and from time to time, and upon such terms, and in such manner, as they shall think fit; and out of the money arising from the subscriptions and the tolls, and other aids hereinafter given, to pay for the same; and to repair and keep in order the said canals, locks, and other works, necessary thereto.

. And whereas it is necessary for the making of the said canal, locks, and other works, that a provision should be made for condemning a quantity of land for the purpose: Be it enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the said president and directors, or a majority of them, to agree with the owners of any land through which the said canal is intended to pass, for the purchase thereof; and in case of disagreement, or in case the owner thereof shall be a femme covert, under age, non-compos, or out of the state, on application to any two justices of the county in which such land shall lie, the said justices shall issue their warrant, under their hands, to the sheriff of their county, to summon a jury of twenty-four inhabitants of their county, of property and reputation, not related to the parties, nor in any manner interested, to meet on the land to be valued, at a day to be expressed in the warrant, not less than ten, nor more than twenty days thereafter, and the sheriff, upon receiving the said warrant, shall forthwith summon the said jury; and when met, shall administer an oath, or affirmation, to every juryman that shall appear, that he will faithfully, justly, and impartially, value the land, (not exceeding in any case the width of two hundred feet,) and all damages the owner thereof shall sustain, by the cutting the canal through such land,