Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Feb.[February] 6, 1835.

AN ACT for the benefit of Robert Ritchey.
1

Certain ferry privileges conferred on said Ritchey.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the ferry heretofore established by the county commissioners’ court of Gallatin county, at their September term, 1834, over the Ohio river, on section sixteen, township twelve south, range ten east, where the road leading from St. Louis to the southern part of Kentucky by Ford’s ferry, on the Kentucky side of said river, crosses the same, be, and the same is hereby confirmed and fully established to and for Robert Ritchey and his assigns or heirs, with all the rights and privileges belonging to the same, and which may be necessary to the keeping up and enjoyment thereof.2

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Sec. 2. That, that part of the road above mentioned, leading from Equality to Ford’s ferry on the Ohio river, as it now runs, and on which the said ferry is established, be, and the same is hereby declared to be a state road.3

County commissioners of Gallatin to lease to said Ritchey certain lands.

Proviso.

Further proviso.

Sec. 3. That whereas the aforesaid road meets the Ohio river at a point included by fractional section numbered sixteen, in township twelve south, range ten east, in Gallatin county, therefore, the county commissioners of said county of Gallatin, be, and they are hereby authorized and required to execute and deliver to said Ritchey, a lease for any quantity of the land of the said section numbered sixteen, for any term not exceeding fifteen years: Provided, the quantity of said land shall not exceed eighty acres. The said lease shall be made upon such terms and upon such conditions as the said county commissioners shall deem conducive to the interest of the inhabitants of the said township: Provided, the consent of three-fourths of the legal voters of the township shall be obtained to the making such lease.4

Approved, Feb. 6, 1835.

1On December 15, 1834, William J. Gatewood presented to the Senate the petition of Robert Ritchey, requesting that the General Assembly allow him to establish a ferry on the Ohio River. The Senate referred it to the Committee on Petitions. On December 29, Gatewood introduced SB 32 from the Committee to the Senate . On December 30, the Senate tabled the bill. On January 12, 1835, the Senate amended the bill by adding a proviso to Section 3. The Senate passed the bill as amended on January 15. The House of Representatives passed the bill on February 2. On February 6, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 302, 307, 323, 436, 467; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 92, 146, 154, 220-21, 260, 404, 437, 442, 453; Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 381, 397, 411.

2The land described here was located in Gallatin County in 1835, but in 1839 became part of newly-created Hardin County. The land is located in the far eastern point of Hardin County alongside the Ohio River.

3State roads were those public roads established or designated by the General Assembly and usually crossed county lines. Only the General Assembly could establish, alter, or abandon state roads, until 1840 and 1841, when the General Assembly gave counties the authority to alter or to abandon state roads upon petition by a majority of voters in the area of the change.
An Act concerning Public Roads, sec. 9; An Act Authorizing Commissioners’ Courts to Alter, Change, and Relocate State Roads; An Act concerning Public Roads.

4On January 12, 1835, the Senate added the proviso.
Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 220-21.
Upon Illinois’ statehood in 1818, Congress granted to every township in the state the proceeds of the sale or lease of land in each township’s Section 16. This money became known as the common school fund, and was intended to support the public schools in each township.
“An Act to Enable the People of the Illinois Territory to Form a Constitution and State Government, and for the Admission of Such State into the Union on an Equal Footing with the Original States,” 18 April 1818, Statutes at Large of the United States, 3:428-31; W. L. Pillsbury, “Early Education in Illinois,” in Sixteenth Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Illinois (Springfield, IL: H. W. Rokker, 1886), 106-07.