Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Jan. 31, 1837.

AN ACT for a State road from Peoria in Peoria county, to Quincy in Adams county.
1

Commissioners appointed.

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That James Harker, Sen. of Peoria county, Joel Wright, and Robert Hughs, of Fulton county, John Baker of Schuyler county, and Henry P. Childers, of Adams county, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view, mark and locate a

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road from Peoria, in Peoria county, by Canton in Fulton county, Leonardsville in McDonough county, Ralls mill, in Schuyler county,2 thence to Quincy, the seat of Justice of Adams county, having in view its permanency, and a due regard to the public convenience.

When and where to meet.

To be sworn.

Copy shall be given to clerk of commissioners court

Sec. 2. The said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall meet on the third Monday in May next, or within two months thereafter, at Peoria in Peoria county, and after being duly sworn before some justice of the peace, faithfully to discharge the duties required of them by this act, shall proceed to view, mark and locate said road, and as soon as practicable thereafter cause to be made out a report of the location of said road, designating the most noted points thereon, and return a copy of the same to the clerk of the county commissioners court of each county through which it may pass, which shall be by them filed in his office; and said road thus laid out, shall be and is hereby declared a public State road, four poles wide, and shall be opened and kept in repair as other State roads are.3

May call assistance as may be necessary.

Sec. 3. Said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall be authorized to proceed and lay out said road as required by this act, and call to their assistance such help as may be necessary to assist in setting good substantial stakes in the prairie and blazing the trees in the timber, and the county commissioners courts of said counties through which said road may pass, shall allow said commissioners and such other hands as they may necessarily employ to assist them, a sum not exceeding two dollars for each day necessarily employed in locating said road, to be paid by the counties through which said road shall pass in proportion to thenumber of days that said commissioners are necessarily employed in each county.

Approved, 31st January 1837.

1On December 16, 1836, Jonas Rawalt in the House of Representatives presented the petition of various citizens, requesting the establishment of a state road from Peoria to Quincy. The House referred the petition to the Committee on Petitions. Responding to this petition, Stephen A. Douglas of the Committee on Petitions introduced HB 37 in the House on December 27. On January 2, 1837, the House referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on January 4 with an amendment, in which the House concurred. On January 9, the House referred the bill to another select committee. The second select committee reported back the bill on January 11 with an amendment, in which the House concurred. The House passed the bill as amended. On January 12, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on January 19 with amendments, in which the Senate concurred. On January 20, the Senate passed the bill as amended. On January 25, the House concurred in the Senate amendments. On January 31, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 125, 164, 170, 220, 233-34, 309, 382, 414, 418, 440; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 199, 203, 252, 260, 302, 313, 316.

2William C. Ralls built and operated Ralls Mill near Brooklyn.
Combined History of Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois (Philadephia: W. R. Brink, 1882), 353.

3A pole was equivalent to 16.5 feet. State 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.