Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That Joseph Gates, William Polk, William White, John C. Stedman, Thomas Cobbs, George W. Mordecai, E. P Guinn, Western R. Gales, Wiliiam H. Haywood, Junior, and their associates, who have heretofore subscribed and commenced the erection of an Experimental Rail Road in and near Raleigh, shall and they are hereby declared to be a body politic and corporate, by the name and style of the Experimental Rail Road Company, and as such, they may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded as a corporation, and may use and exercise all the rights and priveleges, and be liable to all the penalties and responsibilities of a corporation for a term of years hereinafter mentioned.

II. Be it further enacted, That the said company may pass and establish for their own government, and for the government of any road which they have erected or may erect in Wake County, such rules and regulations as they may think best, not inconsistent with the general laws of this State.

III. Be it further enacted, That when any of the subscribers to the stock of said company shall not have paid according to rules by them established, the said company may sue or warrant for the subscription, or sell the stock of the subscriber, and sue for the loss if any occur, as the said company may choose.

IV. Be it further enacted, That the said company shall make a dividend of their clear profits for tolls on the rail road by them erected, at least once in every year, and oftener if they think fit; which tolls shall be fixed by their bye-laws and published.

V. Be it further enacted, That the said company may purchase upon the best terms they can procure it, any lands over which the said rail road may pass, and where the said rail road passes over the public roads or the public
ground, they shall have liberty to do so, free of charge, provided that they do not materially obstruct the public highways or streets, but provide a mode of convenient passing and repassing across said road, and provided that they do not interfere with any of the public lots of the State in the City of Raleigh. And provided, nevertheless, That nothing in this Act, shall authorize or permit the said corporation, to demand from any person or persons, who may hereafter contract for the erection of any building or work for the use of the State, in which rock may be deemed a necessary material, a greater price for transporting rock on the said rail road than two thirds of the usual price charged by owners of waggons.

VI. Be it further enacted, That this Act shall be in force for twenty years from the ratification thereof and no longer.

VII. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall commence and be in force from and immediately after the ratification thereof.

Read three times and ratified in General Assembly,
this the 9th day of January, A.D. 1833.

David L. Swain, Governor
Louis D. Henry, Speaker of the House of Commons
William D. Moseley, Speaker of the Senate

A true copy - William Hill, Secretary