Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Jan.[January] 18, 1836.

AN ACT to locate a State Road therein named.
1

Commissioners appointed to locate said road.

When & where to meet.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That John Neely of Pike county, and William Gillam and James B. Young of Morgan county, be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view, mark, survey and locate a state road from Pittsfield via Augusta in Pike, via Winchester to the south end of main street of Lynnville in Morgan county, said commissioners or a majority of them shall meet at the town of Pittsfield on the second Monday in March next, or within sixty days thereafter, and after being duly sworn by some justice of the peace, faithfully to discharge the duties required of them by this act; shall proceed to view, mark, survey and locate said road, taking into consideration the public convenience and the permanency of the road, doing as little injury to private property as practicable.

Shall make a report.

Sec. 2. Said commissioners, within thirty days after having located said road, shall make a report in writing to the county commissioners’ courts of the respective counties, through which said road shall pass; said report shall form a part of the records of said courts, and said road thus laid out shall be a public highway of this state; and the county commissioners’ courts of each county through which the said road may pass, shall cause the same to be opened, and kept in repair as other state roads are required to be by law.2

Compensation.

Sec. 3. The county commissioners courts, of the counties of Morgan and Pike, shall allow to said commissioners, surveyor and chain carriers, a reasonable compensation for their services; to be paid out of the county treasuries of the counties through which said road may pass.

Approved, Jan. 18, 1836.

1On January 1, 1836, William Ross introduced the bill in the House of Representatives. The House passed the bill on January 4. The Senate concurred on or before January 18. On January 18, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 180, 197, 220, 368, 371; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 172.

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.