United States Statutes at Large/Volume 4/Appendices/Appendix 1/Chapter 8
ACT OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
An Act incorporating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company.
Act of Pennsylvania giving assent to act of Virginia.Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by authority of the same, That the full and entire assent of this commonwealth be, and the same is hereby, given to all and each of the provisions mentioned and contained in an act of the legislature of the state of Virginia, passed the twenty-seventh day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four, entitled “An act incorporating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company,” so far as the same are or may be applicable to this commonwealth; and the said act of the state of Virginia is hereby adopted, ratified, and confirmed, and enacted into a law of this commonwealth, and all and each of the provisions, conditions, and restrictions thereof, as fully and effectually, as if the same were enacted, paragraph by paragraph, and section by section, so far as the same can apply to this commonwealth; always, nevertheless, subject to the exceptions, provisions, and restrictions, hereinafter mentioned; and the said act shall hereafter be in full force and effect, wherever the same is applicable, as well within, as without this commonwealth, as an act incorporating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, for all and every of the objects and purposes therein set forth and provided for, according to the true intent and meaning of the said act of the state of Virginia; an exemplification whereof shall be annexed to this act, and be published in the same manner as the laws are usually published; and the governor shall likewise cause an exemplified copy of the said act of Virginia to be deposited in the secretary’s office of this commonwealth, and shall also transmit an attested copy of this act to the President of the United States, and one copy thereof to the governor of Virginia, and one copy thereof to the governor of Maryland.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That this act shall have no effect, unless, within three years from and after the passage hereof, the state of Maryland shall pass a law authorizing the state of Pennsylvania, or any company which may be for that purpose incorporated by the state of Pennsylvania, to take and continue a lateral canal or canals, or railway, from any point or points within the territory of Pennsylvania, to, and connect with, the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, within the territory of the said state of Maryland, and upon the same terms and conditions, and with all the rights, privileges, and powers, of every kind whatsoever, that the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company may have to make the said Chesapeake and Ohio canal, and unless the said Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company shall assent to and accept the said law of the state of Maryland, within one year after it shall have been enacted: Provided, That, should the said Chesapeake and Ohio canal be located on the south side of the Potomac, at any point or points below the town of Hancock, then the assent of Virginia, and the said Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, shall also be obtained in like manner, before this act goes into operation, except so far as it requires the assent of Maryland to the right to make a railway through the territory of that state.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That, as a condition on which this act shall pass, no greater tolls shall be charged or paid on goods, commodities, and produce, entering and transported on the said Chesapeake and Ohio canal, from such lateral canals, than are charged and paid on other goods, commodities, and produce of the same kind, transported on the said Chesapeake and Ohio canal: And provided further, That the aforesaid Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company shall extend the Chesapeake and Ohio canal to, and terminate at, the city of Pittsburg.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company shall have full power and authority to alter and change the route of the western section of the said canal, so that the same may commence at the town of Cumberland, situated near the junction of Wills’ creek with the north branch of the Potomac, and be continued from Act of Pennsylvania.thence, by the valley of Wills’ creek and Castleman’s river, to the Youghiogany, and from thence to the city of Pittsburg: Provided, That the United States’ board of internal improvement, or a majority thereof, should deem and report that route to be the best.
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That, should the United States of America subscribe to the stock of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, the said company shall, within six months after receiving the sum subscribed, commence the western section of said canal, at such point or points as may deemed most advantageous to the interests of the said company, and it shall be their duty to apportion at least one half of the subscription of the United States to the western section of the said canal. And whatever amount of stock may be subscribed by the citizens of Pennsylvania, shall be expended wholly on the western section, unless authority is given to the said company, by the Pennsylvania subscribers, to extend their subscriptions differently; and in case of failure of the said company to comply with the provisions herein set forth, this act shall cease to have any force or effect whatever.
Sec. 6. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That, if the net annual dividend of said company shall, for any two years in succession, exceed the amount of fifteen per cent., such excess shall be equally applied, by the president and directors, to the accommodation of the inhabitants of the shores of the Youghiogany and Monongehala rivers, and the country drained by the tributary streams thereof, now navigable, or which may hereafter become so, in the same manner, in proportion to the distance, as is directed for the accommodation of the inhabitants of the shores of the Potomac and its tributary streams, by the eleventh section of an act of the state of Virginia, entitled “An act incorporating the Ohio and Chesapeake Canal Company,” passed the twenty-seventh day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.
Sec. 7. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful for the said Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, at any place within this commonwealth, on the route of the said canal, to sell or lease the use of the water contained therein, or in any embankment, dyke, pond, or other improvement connected therewith, to any individual or individuals, or private company or companies, for that purpose incorporated by the state of Pennsylvania, for mills, or any other water-works, or for irrigating any lands, or for supplying bleach grounds, tan pits, or brick yards, and the profits or rents resulting therefrom, to take and receive to, and for the use and benefit of, the said corporation, in addition to the tolls and profits allowed to be taken by the act of Virginia: Provided, That the navigation of the said canal be not thereby impeded or obstructed: And provided further, That the said Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company shall not, at any time, be, directly or indirectly, engaged or concerned in any banking, merchandising, milling, or the erecting of mills, manufacturing, or mining, or in any other business whatsoever, except such as may be necessary and proper for the construction of such canal and appurtenances, and the performance of the several functions of a canal company.
Sec. 8. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That, as a further condition on which the assent of this state is given to the Virginia act, aforesaid, that, so far as regards the territory of Pennsylvania, whenever the said canal shall cross any public or private laid-out road or highway, or shall divide the ground of any person or persons, so as to require a ford or bridge to cross the same, the jury, who shall inquire of the damages to be sustained, in manner directed by the fifteenth section of the Virginia act, shall find and ascertained whether a passage across the same shall be admitted or maintained by a ford or bridge; and, on such finding, the said Ohio and Chesapeake Canal Company shall cause a ford to be rendered practicable, or a bridge fit for the passage of carts and wagons to be built, and for ever hereafter maintained and kept in repair, at all and every places so ascertained by the said jury, at the cost and charges of the said company; but nothing herein contained shall prevent any person from erecting and keeping in repair any foot or other bridge across the said canal, at his own expense, when the same shall pass through his ground: Provided, The same shall be of such height above the water, as shall be usual in the bridges erected by the company: And provided, also, That such foot or other bridges so to be erected by the owners of such lands, shall not interfere with any of the locks, buildings, or other works of the company, or with the navigation of the said canal.
Sec. 9. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the assent Act of Pennsylvania.of the legislature of this commonwealth to the said act of the legislature of Virginia, is given and granted upon the further express conditions, that any mesne process which may be issued against the said company, may be served on any toll-gatherer, director, or other officer of the company; and such service shall be held good, valid, and effectual, as a service of such process upon the said Ohio and Chesapeake Canal Company; and that said company shall annually report to the legislature of Pennsylvania, the progress they may make in constructing the said canal; and also an annual abstract of their accounts, certified by the oath of the president of the said company, showing the amount of capital stock actually paid in, and the sums deposited with the treasurer for contingent and current expenses, and the profits which may have accrued, and the dividends made or declared during the preceding year.