Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Jan.[January] 15, 1836.

AN ACT to locate a State Road from Commerce, in Hancock county, to Peoria.
1

Commissioners appointed to locate road.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Marvin Tryen, of Hancock county; Daniel Babbit, of Fulton county, and Thomas Phillips, of Peoria county, be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners, to view, mark, and locate a road, by setting stakes in the prairie, sufficiently close as to be easily followed, and marking the trees in the timber, from Commerce, in Hancock county, the nearest and best route to the town of Franklin, in said county; thence to some eligible crossing on Spoon river, in a direction to Farmington, in Fulton county; thence to Peoria, in Peoria county, having in view its permanency, and doing as little private injury as the public good will permit.

When and where to meet.

To be sworn.

Sec. 2. The said commissioners shall meet on the first Monday in March next, or as soon thereafter as practicable, at the town of Commerce, in Hancock county, and after being duly sworn before some justice of peace, faithfully to discharge the duties required of them by this act, shall proceed to view, and locate said road, designating the route by setting stakes in the prarie, and marks on the trees in the timber; and shall make a report of the location of said road, giving the most noted points thereon, and return a copy of said report to the clerk of the county commissioners’ court of each of said counties, which shall be filed by him in his office: and said road, thus laid out, shall be, and is hereby declared a public state road, and shall be opened and kept in repair, in the same manner as other public roads are.2

May employ assistance.

Compensation

Sec. 3. The said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall be authorised to proceed and lay out said road, as required by this act, and call to their assistance such other help as may be necessary for the location of the same; and

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the county commissioners’ court of each county through which the same may pass, shall allow said commissioners, and such other hands as they may employ to assist them, a sum not exceeding one dollar and fifty cents each, for every day necessarily employed in locating said road, to be paid out of the county treasury of each county, according to the distance said road may pass through the same, when said commissioners shall have filed a copy of the report, as is recited in this act, duly certified and attested by them.

Approved, Jan. 15, 1836.

1On December 21, 1835, Thomas H. Owen in the House of Representatives presented the petition of citizens of Hancock, McDonough, and Warren counties, requesting a state road from the head of the Des Moines Rapids, by way of Franklin, to Peoria. The House referred this petition to a select committee. Responding to this petition, Owen of the select committee introduced HB 60 in the House on December 23. On the same day, the House referred the bill to a select committee. On December 24, the select committee reported back the bill with an amendment, which was approved by the House. The House passed the bill as amended on December 30. On January 13, the Senate passed the bill. On January 15, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 134, 144, 178, 182, 311, 331, 349; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 134, 228, 250, 269.

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.