Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force 9th Jan.[January] 1836.

AN ACT to locate a State Road between Mount Carmel in Wabash county, and Maysville in Clay county.
1

Commissioners appointed.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That John T. Lawler, and Alexander Phillips of the county of White, and Hugh Stewart of the county of Wayne, be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners, to survey, view and permanently locate and mark out a state road from Mount Carmel in Wabash county; to Maysville in Clay county, to cross the little Wabash river, at the most eligible point, below the mouth of the Muddy branch of the said river.2

When and where to meet.

To be sworn.

Sec. 2. The said commissioners shall meet at the court house in Mount Carmel on the second Tuesday in May next, or within sixty days thereafter, and having first taking an oath or affirmation before some justice of the peace, faithfully and impartially to execute and perform the duties imposed upon them by this act, shall proceed to examine and survey the route of the said road and shall upon such examination and survey, locate the said road, upon the most

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eligible route for the same, having due regard to the ground for such location, that shall admit of the cheapest and most permanent construction of the said road, and of the bridges and other structures necessary to be erected thereupon.

Authorised to employ surveyors.

Shall be sworn.

Make report

Sec. 3. That the said commissioners be, and they are hereby authorized to employ a competent and skilful surveyor, to aid them in the discharge of their duties, which said surveyor before entering upon his duties, shall also take an oath or affirmation, faithfully, skilfully and impartially, to execute all surveys and examinations which the said commissioners shall direct him to make on any proposed route for the said road; and to make a just and true report of such survey and examination to them, and the better to enable the said surveyor, to make such report, the chain carriers and other assistants are hereby required, to take an oath or affirmation, to perform their respective duties, faithfully and impartially.

To put up posts.

make out plat

Sec. 4. On the final location of the said road the said commissioners shall cause the line thereof to be distinctly marked out, and shall cause posts to be permanently fixed in the ground at the end of each and every mile, marked with the number of miles from Mount Carmel; and shall cause a description and plat of the route of the said road to be made out, and a copy of which said description and plat shall be returned with the report of the commissioners to the clerks of the commissioners’ court in each and every county, through which said road shall run.

Declared a state road

Commissioners to report and where report to be filed.

Sec. 5. The said road when so located, marked and laid out, shall be deemed and considered a state road, and the respective counties through which the same shall run, shall appoint supervisors, to open and work, and keep the same in repair, as other state roads now are, or hereafter may be required by law, to be opened, worked and kept in repair, and the said commissioners shall make out a report, signed by at least a majority of them, of all their proceedings had in relation to this act; a copy of which said report, together with a bill of the expences of the survey and location, and a copy of the description and plat of the said road, shall be filed with the clerk of the commissioners court of each county through which the road shall pass, which said report, description and plat, the said clerks are hereby required to record in their respective offices, and any omission on the part of the said clerks to record the same, shall in nowise exonorate the county or counties, in which said omission shall take place, from opening, working or keeping the said road in repair.

Sec. 6. The commissioners shall be entitled to receive one dollar and fifty cents per day, for each and every day

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they may be actually engaged in the discharge of their duties, and the surveyor and assistants shall be paid such reasonable compensation, as the said commissioners shall deem reasonable and just, and the expences accruing under the provisions of this act shall be paid in the following mannner to wit: one half of the whole amount shall be paid by the county commissioners court of the county of Wabash, and the residue shall be paid in equal sums, by each of the other counties through which said road shall run.

Improvement of said road.

Sec. 7. It shall and may be lawful for any individual or association of individuals to open and work the said road or any part thereof and to construct any bridges, causeways, or other structures on the said road, for the public use, and such work, bridges and other structures shall be protected from injury, in the same manner as if the same had been made, or erected by the supervisors of the said road.

Sec. 8. That when the said road, or any part thereof shall be open and fit for use, and which said part so opened and fit for use, shall supersede the whole or any portion of the former state road, heretofore laid out between Mount Carmel and Maysville it shall be lawful for the county commissioners court of the respective counties, in which said new road shall supersede the former road as aforesaid, to pass an order to vacate the said former road, or such part thereof a shall have been so superseded.

Sec. 9. This act to be in force from and after its passage.

Approved, Jan 9. 1836.

1On December 12, 1835, Edward Smith introduced to the House of Representatives a petition from citizens of Wabash County, asking for a review of the state road between Mount Carmel and Maysville. The House referred the petition to a select committee. On December 16, Smith, speaking on behalf of the select committee, introduced HB 33 in the House. The House referred the bill to a select committee, which reported back the bill without amendment on December 17. On December 22, the House again referred the bill to a select committee, which reported back the bill with amendments on December 23. The House then passed the bill as amended. On January 4, 1836, the Senate passed the bill unamended. On January 9, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 75-76, 78, 122-23, 134, 227, 253, 258, 282; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 96, 138, 164, 191, 195, 221.

2State 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.