In force, Feb 7, 1837.
Commissioners
Best route.
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Charles Hunt, and Jesse Collins, of Fulton county, and Edson Harkness of Peoria county, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view, mark and locate a road from
Utica in Fulton county, the nearest and best route by Walling & Co’s mill, on Copperas creek,2 and Aurora to Farmington, having in view its permanency and a due regard to the public convenience.
Time and place of meeting.
Shall cause a report to be made of said road.
To be filed in clerk’s office.
To be filed in clerk’s office.
Sec. 2. The said commissioners shall meet on the third Monday in May next, or within thirty
days thereafter, at Utica in Fulton county, and after being duly sworn before some justice of the peace, faithfully to discharge
the duties required of them by this act, and as soon thereafter as practicable, 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 of the counties of Fulton and Peoria, which shall be by him filed in his office, and said road thus laid out, shall be
and is hereby declared a public State road,3 and shall be opened and kept in repair as other State roads are.
Power to employ assistance. ed.
Compensation. Time employ.
Sec. 3. The said commissioners are authorized to employ one person as a marker, to assist
in locating said road, and the county commissioners’ courts shall allow said commissioners and marker not exceeding two dollars each for every
day necessarily employed in locating and marking said road, to be paid by the county commissioners court of each county, through which the said road may pass, in proportion to the distance
in each county, when said commissioners shall have filed a copy of the report as recited
in this act, duly certified and attested by them.
Approved, 7th February, 1837.
1On December 29, 1836, Jonas Rawalt in the House of Representatives presented the petition of citizens requesting the construction of a state road from
Utica to Farmington. The House referred the petition to a select committee. In response to this petition,
Rawalt of the select committee introduced HB 43 in the House on December 31 . On January 10, the House passed the bill. On January
13, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill
on January 25 with an amendment, in which the Senate concurred. On January 27, the
Senate passed the bill as amended. On February 3, the House concurred in the Senate
amendment. On February 7, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 131-32, 149, 222, 227, 414, 468, 483, 505; Illinois
Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 199, 203, 210, 291, 311-12, 351, 352.
2The Walling & Company mill was a saw and grist mill located on the west branch of
the creek built and operated by Gabriel Walling.
History of Fulton County Illinois (Peoria, IL: Chas C. Chapman, 1879), 843.
3State 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.
Printed Document, 1 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Tenth General Assembly (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1837), 251, GA Session: 10-1,