Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Jan.[January] 31, 1835.

AN ACT for the benefit of the Town of Quincy in Adams County.
1

Trustees authorized to erect wharves and ferries.

And to regulate the same.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the Trustees of the town of Quincy, in the County of Adams, shall have power to erect, build and establish wharves on the bank of the Mississippi river, in front of said town, and to rent or otherwise regulate or keep the same as they shall see proper, and to establish the rates of tolls on the same.2 The said Trustees shall also have power to establish a ferry or ferries from the landing in front of said town, across the Mississippi river, and to rent, regulate or keep the said ferry or ferries, and the profits of said ferry or ferries and wharves, are hereby vested in said Trustees, to be used as other funds belonging to the corporation of said town, and the said Trustees shall also have power to fix the rates of ferriage at any ferry established by them as aforesaid; and any such ferry, when established, shall, in all other respects, be regulated by the laws, now or hereafter to be in force, relating to ferries in this State.3

Approved, Jan. 31, 1835.

1Archibald Williams introduced SB 70 in the Senate on January 23, 1835. The Senate passed it on January 27. The House of Representatives concurred on January 29. 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, Ill.: J. Y. Sawyer, 1835), 412, 417, 434, 452, 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, Ill.: J. W. Sawyer, 1835), 314, 352, 378, 383, 390.

2In 1826, a private ferry began operating on the Mississippi River at Quincy until its destruction by fire in the winter of 1835. In that year, the first steam ferry went into business in the town, and it provided passage across the river every hour, claiming to deliver passengers to the other bank in just five minutes time. In the 1840s, there were repeated efforts in Quincy to provide a free ferry, and in 1847 the municipal government footed the bill, at a cost of $350. However, long-term arrangements to provide free passage failed, and tolls remained in place throughout the 1850s.
William H. Collins, History of the City of Quincy, Illinois (Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., [1906]), 25, 42, 104, 109-10.

3At the time of the passages of this act, the standing laws that related to ferries provided requirements for licensing and taxation, the duties and liabilities of ferry keepers, and the posting of rates.
“An Act to Provide for the Establishment of Ferries, Toll Bridges and Turnpike Roads,” 12 February, 1827; “An Act Supplemental to an Act, Entitled ‘An Act to Establish and Regulate Ferries,’ Approved, February 20, 1819,” 12 February 1827; “An Act to Amend the Several Acts Therein Named, relating to the Several Acts Concerning the Establishing and Regulating Ferries in This State,” 19 January 1833, all in The Revised Laws of Illinois (1833), 302-11.