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In force, Jan.[January] 15, 1836.
AN ACT to lay out a State Road therein named.
1
Commissioners.
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That James Gifford, Daniel S. Haight, and Josiah C. Goodhue, are hereby appointed commissioners, to view, survey and locate a road from
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Meacham’s Grove in Cook county, to Galena in Jo Daviess county.
2
When and where to meet.
Compensation
Sec. 2. The said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall, on the first Monday in May 1835, or as soon thereafter as may be, assemble at Meacham’s Grove in said Cook county, and after being duly sworn by some justice of the peace, faithfully to observe the provisions of this act, shall proceed to view and locate said road, making Elgin on Fox river, in Cook county, Belvidere on Square Prairie, in the county of La Salle, and Midway at the ford on Rock river, in the county of Jo Daviess, points on the said road, and shall fix the said road on the most advantages ground, for a permanent road, having reference to said points; and the said commissioners shall, on or before the first day of the month of November next, make, or cause to be made, true surveys and maps of said road, signed by them, or a majority of them, to be lodged with each of the county commissioners’ courts, in the counties respectively through which the said road passes;3 which road when laid out shall be deemed and considered a public state road; and the county commissioners’ courts of the counties through which the said is located, shall cause the same to be opened four poles wide and to be worked and kept in repair as other public roads are: Provided however, That the commissioners appointed by the first section of this act, shall not receive from the State Treasury, nor from the treasuries of the counties through which the said road passes, any compensation for their services rendered, about the laying out and locating of the said road.4
Commissioners to locate a certain other road.
When and where to meet.
Compensation.
Sec. 3. That David W. Whitney, Stephen Mack, and John P. Bradstreet, be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners, to view and locate a state road from Belvidere on Square Prairie, in La Salle county, to the mouth of the Peketonica river, so as to best accommodate the inhabitants between those points. The said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall meet at Belvidere aforesaid, on the first Monday of May, or as soon thereafter as may be, and after having been duly sworn by some justice of the peace, shall proceed to locate said road, and make return as is provided by the second section of this act; Provided always, That the said last named commissioners shall not be entitled to any compensation, either from the state, or counties through which the said last mentioned road may pass, for the expense of locating the said road.
Approved, Jan. 15, 1836.
1James M. Strode introduced SB 22 in the Senate on December 16, 1835. On December 21, the Senate passed the bill. The House of Representatives passed the bill on December 31. On January 15, 1836, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 116, 139, 183, 192, 331, 349; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 47, 60, 82, 141, 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.
3In 1837, the General Assembly passed an act that repealed the portion of this section requiring the commissioners to make or cause to be made maps of the road by November 1, 1836. The new law extended the deadline to May 1, 1837.
4The commissioners eventually surveyed and located this road, and it opened shortly thereafter. The road became an important thoroughfare stretching across the northern part of Illinois.
Charles A. Church, Past and Present of the City of Rockford and Winnebago County, Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1905), 17.

Printed Document, 2 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at their Second Session (Vandalia, IL: J. Y. Sawyer, 1836), 216-17, GA Session: 9-2,