Article XI. SECTION 1. The qualified electors for State and county officers, who shall have resided three months next preceding an election within the corporate limits of the City of Bryan, shall be allowed to vote for all elective officers of the corporation. Article XII-General Provisions. SECTION 1. Upon the passage of this act, the persons now filling the offices of the City of Bryan shall continue in office, subject to the provisions of an act entitled "An act to authorize the Governor of the State to fill vacancies," passed by the Twelfth Legislature. SEC. 2. In all questions of conflict arising out of the terms used and provisions made in the general law under which the Town of Bryan was originally incorporated and the terms used and provisions made in this act, this act shall have the preference and govern. SEC. 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. Approved November 29, 1871. CHAPTER CV. AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE LONE STAR FERRY COMPANY. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That J. D. Johnson, Charles N. Eley. P. Trowbridge, R. T. Underhill, D. Creary and their associates and successors be and they are hereby created a body corporate and politic under the name and style of the Lone Star Ferry Company, and as such shall have the right to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, purchase, hold or dispose of any real or personal property, and make all contracts necessary to the carrying out of the purposes of this charter of incorporation. SEC. 2. That the capital stock of said company shall be one hundred thousand dollars, which may be increased at any time by a vote of the majority of the stockholders. Said stock shall be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each, and in all elections by the company, each share shall represent one vote; provided, the owner of the share be present to vote, or said share is voted by a duly authorized agent. SEC. 3. That said company shall form a preliminary organization consisting of the above named incorporators, who shall be directors until permanent organization, and who shall elect out of their own number a president, secretary and treasurer, who shall be the temporary officers of the company until the permanent organization thereof; and whenever the sum of five thousand dollars of the capital stock has been taken, said president shall at once call a meeting of the stockholders, giving ten days personal notice or by publica tion for twenty days in some newspaper, published in the county, of the time and place of such meeting, when and where there shall be a permanent organization of the company by the election of a president, vice president, secretary and treasurer, and any other officers deemed necessary, including a board of five directors. The stockholders shall elect the directors, and the directors shall elect all other officers. The stockholders shall also adopt by-laws for the goyernment of the company. SEC. 4. That said company shall have the right to purchase and use ferry boats and establish ferries between any point or points on Galveston Island, including the east end of said island, and to and including ten miles west of said east end, and any point or points on the mainland between Bolivar Point and Virginia Point, and including said points, to connect said island with the mainland. And in order to encourage said company in the construction of safe and reliable boats and in keeping up a ferry or ferries in a good, substantial and safe manner, they are hereby granted the right to construct, own and run ferry boats for the convenience of passengers, live stock and freight at any point between the said east end and ten miles west thereof on said island, and from said Virginia to said Bolivar points on the mainland; provided, that the franchises herein granted shall not interfere with the navigation of the San Jacinto or Trinity rivers, or bayous navigable for steamboats. SEC. 5. That the franchises herein granted shall vest for the period of fifty years, and shall in no respect be modified except by request of said company during that time. Said company shall have the right to purchase and own ferry landings and construct all necessary wharves and warehouses or depots requisite to the proper con duct of their business. SEC. 6. That this act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and be in force for fifty years. Approved November 29, 1871. CHAPTER CVI. AN ACT TO AMEND THE THIRD SECTION OF AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE GALVESTON BAY DREDGING COMPANY, PASSED JUNE 30, 1870. L SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That the third section of the act entitled "An act to incorporate the Galveston Bay Dredging Company," passed June 30, 1870, be and the same is hereby amended so that it shall read in the following words, to-wit: "That the said company be and is hereby authorized and empowered to deepen and render suitable and convenient for navigation, by dredging or otherwise, the bar obstructing the mouth of or entrance to the Trinity river, which is commonly known as 'McManus' Pass.'" SEC. 2. That this act take effect from and after its passage. CHAPTER CVII. AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE INDIANOLA DREDGING COMPANY, AS HEREIN SPECIFIED. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That Henry Seeligson, Jonathan Payne, August Heyck, F. E. Hughes and W. Westhoff, of the city of Indianola, and their associates and successors, be and they are hereby constituted and created a body corporate, by the name and style of the Indianola Dredging Company, and by said name shall have succession and a common seal, with capacity to make contracts; and in its said corporate name shall have the right to sue and be sued, to grant and receive, to buy, sell and convey any property, whether real, personal or mixed; to make by-laws for its general government, and the management of its business, and generally to do and perform all such acts and things, consistent with the Constitution of this State and of the United States, as may be necessary and proper for, or incidental to the fulfillment of its obligations, or the maintenance of its rights under this act; and the said above named corporators shall constitute a board of commissioners, for the time being, to organize said company, and a majority of said commissioners shall constitute a quorum to do business. SEC. 2. The said company is hereby authorized to dredge a channel from the ships' anchorage, in Matagorda bay, across Powderhorn bayou bar, into Powderhorn bayou, to any distance in the rear of the city of Indianola that may be deemed necessary, as per plan of the said city, and so to construct the sides or banks of said channel, and secure them by driving piles and planking and curbing them, or by walling them with stone or other material, as may be necessary to secure the banks or sides of the channel from abrasion by the action of the tides; and further, to make said channel of such depth and width that any vessel drawing not more than eight feet of water can pass in and out with convenience and without delay. The said company shall not be allowed to make any portion of the channel more than one hundred and twenty-five feet wide, except at sich places where it may be necessary to make it of greater width, to enable vessels entering the channel to turn around and pass out with dispatch; but said company shall have the right and privilege of making Powderhorn bayou of the uniform width of at least one hundred feet, and not more than one hundred and twenty-five feet, and of the depth of at least eight feet. SEC. 3. That upon condition that said company shall make a channel of not less than eight feet deep and one hundred feet wide, and shall continue to maintain said uniform depth, with good and substantial embankments on both sides of said channel, from the ships' anchorage to the margin of ordinary low tide, then the said company may procure a lease, and have set apart to them by the corporate authorities of the city of Indianola, for the use of said company, sixty feet on each side of said channel, across the flats from the ships' anchorage in Matagorda bay aforesaid, to the margin of the water at ordinary low tide. SEC. 4. The said company shall have the right to appropriate to their own use, so much of Powderhorn bayou as may be necessary to enable the company to dredge a channel of the width and depth herein before provided, to the head or upper end of the contemplated harbor in the rear of the city, and for one or more basins of the same depth, and not less in width than two hundred feet, by paying to the owners or proprietors the reasonable cash value thereof, at the time the same shall be taken possession of by said company for such purpose. SEC. 5. That if said company, and the owner or owners of any private property to be appropriated as authorized in this act shall not be able to agree upon the price to be paid for said property, the owner or owners, their agent or attorney may apply to the judge of the district court in the district in which the said city of Indianola is situate, and it shall be the duty of the judge of said court so applied to, to appoint three disinterested freeholders, citizens of Calhoun county, and State of Texas, to assess the damage, and said freeholders, being first duly sworn to assess the value of the property appropriated, and having given the parties due notice in writing of the time and place of meeting to appraise the value of the property, and hear the testimony in the case, shall proceed, after full investigation, to make their award, and shall immediately return it to the court from which the order emanated, and said court, at its next term thereafter, shall pass upon the same as in ordinary cases of awards by arbitrators, and confirm or set aside the award," as the justice and equity of the case may require, and either party who may feel aggrieved by the award shall have the right to appeal therefrom as in other cases. SEC. 6. That when the said company shall have completed the channel as authorized aforesaid, from the ships' anchorage into Powderhorn bayou and as far west as Main street, and in such a manner that vessels can enter through said channel, and land and discharge and receive cargoes, then the said company shall be authorized to demand and receive charges upon all goods, wares and merchandise of every description passing through said channel, said charges being established by the corporate authorities of the said city of Indianola; and the said company shall pay over, annually, to the city of Indianola, one-half of one per cent. on the gross earnings of said company, one-half of which amount shall go to the school fund of the State, and the residue to said city of Indianola; provided, that no vessel drawing three feet of water or less shall be subject to the above tariff or charges. SEC. 7. The capital stock of said company shall be fifty thousand dollars, divided into shares of fifty dollars each, with the privilege of increasing said capital stock to one hundred thousand dollars, to be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each, and each share shall entitle the owner thereof to one vote, in person or by proxy, at all elections held by stockholders. SEC. 8. Said commissioners are hereby authorized to open books for subscription of stock, and whenever as many as one thousand shares of said stock are subscribed for, and five per cent. thereof paid in, then the said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall call a meeting of the stockholders, at which meeting said stockholders shall elect a board of directors of not less than five nor more than seven persons, who shall each be owner in his own right of at least five shares of the capital stock of said company; said directors so |