at least four of the newspapers printed in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, to open books in the before-mentioned states and district, for receiving and entering such additional subscriptions, in which the stockholders of the said company for the time being, shall, and are hereby declared to have the preference of all others, for the first thirty days after the said books shall be opened as aforesaid, of taking and subscribing for so many whole shares, as any of them shall choose; and the said president and directors are hereby required to observe, in all other respects, the same rules, therein, as are by this act prescribed for receiving and adjusting the first subscriptions, and in like manner to return, under the hands of any three or more of them, an exact list of such additional subscriptions, with the sums subscribed, to the public authorities, as aforesaid, to be, by them, preserved as aforesaid; and all stockholders of such additional shares shall, and are hereby declared to be, from thenceforward, incorporated into the said company.
Legal proceedings under this act.19. And be it enacted, That whenever it shall become necessary to subject the lands of any individual to the purposes provided for in this act, and their consent cannot be obtained, it shall and may be lawful for the company to enter upon such lands, and proceed to the execution of such works, as may be requisite; and that the pendency of any proceedings in any suit in the nature of a writ of ad quod damnum, or any other proceedings, shall not hinder or delay the progress of the work; and it shall be the duty of every court to give precedence to controversies which may arise between the company created by this act, and the proprietors of land sought to be condemned for public uses, and to determine them in preference to all other causes.
Eastern section.20. And be it enacted, That the said canal shall be, and the same is hereby, divided into two sections, to be denominated first and second, or eastern and western, respectively; that the first, or eastern section, shall begin at the District of Columbia, on tide-water, and terminate at or near the bank of Savage river, or creek, which empties into the north branch of the Potowmac, at the base of the Alleghany mountain;Western section. that the second, or western section, shall commence at the said termination, and extend along the valley of Savage river, or creek, so far as the same, or any branch thereof, as may reach some convenient point thereon, for connecting the eastern and western waters, by a tunnel through, or an open cut across the dividing ridge between the same; and thence, after crossing the said dividing ridge, shall proceed to the highest steamboat navigation of the Ohio river, or of some one tributary stream thereof, in such direction as, in the opinion of the said president and directors, shall be best calculated for the attainment of the end set forth in the preamble of this act: that the said president and directors shall first construct the eastern section aforesaid, out of the capital stock hereinbefore mentioned, and shall next proceed to construct, with all possible despatch, the western section thereof.Time for construction. In case the said company shall not begin the said work within two years after the company shall have been formed, or if the work, having been so begun, shall not be diligently prosecuted, so that one hundred miles of the said canal, with the adequate locks and incidental improvements, shall not be completed, and in fit order for navigation, in the term of five years from the commencement of the work, then all interest of the said company, in the navigation and tolls, shall cease and determine, and their charter shall be thereafter taken to be null and void; and so, in like manner, shall the said charter be null and void, if the entire eastern section be not completed in the term of twelve years from the said commencement. And should the said company fail to begin the western section of the said canal, in two years after the time allowed as aforesaid for the completion of the eastern section; or, having begun the western section, shall fail to complete the same in six years after such beginning, then all right, title, and interest of the said company, in the said western section, shall cease and determine; and the several states aforesaid shall have full authority to incorporate another company for the completion of such section, or to complete the same in any other mode that they may deem expedient. And if, after the completion of the said canal and locks, the president and directors shall fail to keep the same in repair for twelve months at any time, then, in like manner, the interest of the company in the navigation and tolls shall cease, and their charter shall be forfeited.
Rights reserved to states.21. And be it further enacted, That the right to the waters of the river Potowmac, for the purpose of any lateral canal or canals, which the state of Virginia or Maryland may authorize to be made in connection with the said canal, is reserved to the said states respectively; that a similar right is reserved to the state of Pennsylvania, in relation to the rivers and streams within the territory