THATthere be, and hereby is, granted to the State of Illinois the right of way through such portions of the public land, remaining unsold, for the construction and extension of the railroad proposed to be constructed by or under the authority of said State, from the city of Cairo, in Alexander county, in Illinois, and northerly through Vandalia, Shelbyville, Decatur, and Bloomington, or by such other route as the General Assembly of Illinois may authorize and direct, to a point on the Illinois river at or near the termination of the Illinois and Michigan canal; and thence, by Galena, to a point on the Mississipps river opposite the City of Dubuque, with a branch to Chicago,; and also a railroad extending across the State from the Mississippi river to the Wabash river or Indiana line, on such route as the General Assembly of said State may prescribe: Provided, That the portion of public land occupied therefor shall not exceed one hundred feet in breadth on each side of said road; that the route of the said road shall be designated and marked on the ground, by plain landmarks, within the period of eighteen months from the passing of this act; and a copy of the notes of the survey and plat thereof, with a description of the said landmarks, be transmitted to the General Land Office in Washington,

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within sixty days after said survey shall have been completed as aforesaid.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That so long as the public lands in the vicinity of said road shall remain unsold, the said State shall have power to take therefrom such materials, of earth, stone, and wood, as may be necessary for the construction of said road, doing therein no unreasonable waste.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That a right of pre-emption be, and hereby is, granted to said State of Illinois to all the unsold and unappropriated lands within ten miles on each side of the said proposed railways, to be selected and located by an agent or agents of said State, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, in sections or fractions of sections, which selections shall be made and duly reported to the land office or land offices of the district or districts in which, respectively, such land so selected. & c. may be, and also to the General Land Office at the city of Washington, within two years from the passing of this act; whereupon said lands, so selected as aforesaid, shall not thereafter be subject to entry or sale to any other person or persons: Provided, That nothing in this act contained shall be so construed as to grant to said State of Illinois such right of pre-emption to any land heretofore set apart or reserved for schools, nor to any public land which may have been reserved by the

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United States for military or other public purposes, nor to any mineral lands, nor to any to which a right of pre-emption may previously have been acquired by any person or persons as aforesaid.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That from time to time, and as the construction of said roads, respectively, may be completed and in actual use, the said State, on payment of the minimum government price, shall be entitled to receive patents for all the lands on each side of said roads, selected accordingly to the preceding section of this act, which may lie within ten miles of those parts of said roads, respectively, so finished and ready to use: Provided, That the said right of pre-emption shall not be considered as perfected and absolute until at least ten miles of said railroads shall have been constructed and finished; and then, from time to time, as each successive ten miles thereof shall have been completed, as aforesaid, such right of pre-emption may be consummated by patents, as aforesaid, but subject always to the restrictions and conditions hereinbefore expressed: And provided, also, That the construction of said railroad shall be commenced within two years from the passing of this act.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That unless at least three hundred miles of said railroads shall have been constructed and finished, as aforesaid, within ten years from the passing of this act, then the right of pre-emption of said State for so much of said lands as shall not previously have been by them

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paid for, as aforesaid, and consummated by patents issued in conformity with the provisions of the preceding section of this act, shall cease and be deemed forfeited, and shall be subject to entry, sale and patent, in the same manner as if this act had not passed; and all right therein, and claim of pre-emption thereto, of said State, shall cease and be taken and deemed as utterly extinguished and void.

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That so much of said railroads as may heretofore have been laid out and located by the State of Illinois shall be deemed and taken, for the purposes of this act, as having been laid out and located by said State, so soon as the routes thereof shall have been designated and marked on the ground, and a copy of the notes of survey and a plat thereof, with a description of said landmarks, &c., shall have been transmitted to the General Land Office within the period hereinbefore prescribed.

Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That if at any time after the construction as aforesaid of said roads, or the construction of any part of either of them, the said railroads, or either of them, shall be suffered to fall into utter decay, or shall cease to be used as and for the purposes of a railway, then, and from that time, all right of way hereby granted for the railway so suffered to fall into decay, shall revert to the United States, and the same shall be disposed of as other public lands are or may be disposed of by the said United States.

Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That the mails of the United States shall be carried on said roads and each of them, under the regulations of the Post Office Department, at the minimum price for similar service s paid on other railroads, and in case of disagreement between the State and Post Office Department as to the price, then the matted in dispute shall be referred to the Untied States District Judge for said State.