Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force June 1, 1835.

AN ACT declaring Crooked Creek in Schuyler County a Navigable Stream.
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Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Crooked Creek in Schuyler county in this State, be, and the same is hereby declared a navigable stream from its confluence with the Illinois river up to Henly’s mill on said creek,2 and the same shall at all times hereafter, be a public highway, and free for the passage of boats and water craft of every description, from the mouth of said creek up to said mill: Provided, That any person or persons wishing to build a mill dam on said creek, may do so, by constructing an apron to

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such mill dam so as to permit flat and keel boats to pass the same.3

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

Approved, Feb.[Feburary] 11, 1835.

1On December 31, 1834, George W. P. Maxwell in the Senate introduced the petition of sundry citizens of Schuyler County, requesting a law declaring Crooked Creek a navigable stream. The Senate referred the petition to a select committee. In response to this petition, Maxwell from the select committee introduced SB 48 in the Senate on January 6, 1835. The Senate passed it on January 12. The House of Representatives concurred on February 7. On February 11, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 280, 296, 498, 526, 530, 532; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 158, 190, 199, 219, 465, 484, 486, 497; Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 399.

2Henly’s Mill was a water mill constructed by Robert Henly in 1832 or 1833.
Combined History of Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois (Philadelphia: W. R. Brink, 1882), 273.

3The 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.