Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force June 1, 1835.

AN ACT declaring the Snicarty, a branch of the Mississippi river, a Navigable stream.
1

Stream declared navigable.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the Snicarty, a branch of the Mississippi river, from its confluence with the said river, opposite to the town of Clarksville in the State of Missouri, to the Atlas mills, in Pike county, on said Snicarty, is hereby declared a navigable stream, and shall at all times hereafter, be a public highway, and free for the passage of all boats and water crafts of every description.2

This act to take effect and be in force from and after the first day of June next.

Approved, Jan.[January] 31, 1835.

1William Ross introduced HB 152 in the House of Representatives on January 23, 1835. The House passed the bill on January 26. The Senate concurred on January 28. On January 31, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Journal of the House of Representatives of the Ninth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at their First Session, Begun and Held in the Town of Vandalia, December 1, 1834 (Vandalia, IL: J. Y. Sawyer, 1835), 337, 366, 378, 384, 426, 451, 459, 461; Journal of the Senate, of the Ninth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at their First Session, Begun and Held in the Town of Vandalia, December 1, 1834 (Vandalia, IL: J. W. Sawyer, 1835), 332, 347, 362, 383, 390.

2The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 had established the principle of the free navigation of the navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence rivers and their tributaries. Early white settlers to Illinois congregated near the state’s rivers, streams, and creeks. Due in part to the lack of improved highways and in part to the belief that watercourses would remain the principle avenues for transporting people and goods, Illinoisans took pains to assure their navigability through statute. Lawmakers began enacting such laws soon after statehood, and continued the practice until 1867. Declaration as a navigable stream generally meant that no dam, mill, bridge, or other public work or obstruction could be placed on the body of water as to impede the navigation thereof, or drive the water from its natural channel so as to overflow the bottoms, or produce stagnate waters in any place.
“An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North West of the River Ohio,” art. 4 (1787); “An Act Declaring the Sangamon River a Navigable Stream,” 26 December 1822, Laws of the State of Illinois (1823), 81-82; Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois (Chicago: Munsell, 1901), 393-94.