Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force 10th Feb.[February] 1837

AN ACT to locate a State road from Hennepin by Pekin, to Springfield.
1

Commissioners appointed to locate road from Hennepin to Springfield.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That Ira J. Fenn of Putnam county, Jacob Wilson of Tazewell county, and Philo Bevis of Sangamon county be and they are appointed commissioners to view, survey and locate a State road,2 to commence at Hennepin in Putnam county, running thence through Hudson and Wesley city to Pekin in Tazewell county, thence to Springfield in Sangamon county.

To meet at Hennepin the 1st Monday of April and survey said road.

Sec. 2. The said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall meet at Hennepin on the first Monday in April next, or within three months thereafter, and after being duly sworn by some justice of the peace of this

<Page 2>
State to observe the provisions of this act, shall proceed to lay out, locate, and survey said road from Hennepin, by Hudson and Wesley city, to Pekin, and thence to Springfield, on the best and nearest route, and in such manner as will best subserve the public interest.

Shall cause the road to be properly marked and keep field notes of the route, and return same to the clerks of each county to be recorded

Commissioners court shall order road to be opened

Sec. 3. Said commissioners shall cause the route of the road aforesaid, where it passes through timbered land, to be properly marked on the trees, and also fix posts firmly driven in the ground at the end of each quarter of a mile; and when the said route passes through prairie land, by fixing posts along the route and at the end of each mile, raising mounds of earth at least two feet in height and three feet in diameter at the base; and the said commissioners shall keep field notes and make plats of the route, and return the same to the clerks of the county commissioners’ court of each county, of that part of the road laid out in such county certified by them. And it shall be the duty of the county commissioners of each county in which said road shall be laid out to cause an entry to be made upon their records of the same, and direct by an order the opening of the same and keeping it in repair as other public roads in this state.

And deemed a public road

Sec. 4. Whenever said road shall be laid out as aforesaid, it shall be deemed a public road, be opened four poles wide, and shall not be changed or turned out of its course under any pretence whatever, except by an act of the General Assembly.

Roads vacated and work applied on new road

Sec. 5. All roads and parts of roads now established between any and all the points named, when the road hereby authorized shall not run thereon or vary from them, shall be annulled and vacated, and the work shall be applied on the new state road, unless in the opinion of the said county commissioners the public convenience requires that the same should be kept open as a county road, in which case a special entry of record shall be made by the county commissioners’ court respecting the same.

Compensation

Sec. 6. The said commissioners shall make out a statement of the length of time necessarily employed by them, and also their necessary hands in locating said road in each county through which the same passes, and present it to the county commissioners’ court of the proper county, and said courts are hereby authorized and required to make said commissioners and their necessary hands a reasonable compensation per day out of the county treasury for their services rendered under this act.

In case of refusal to serve, commissioners’ court to fill vacancy

Sec. 7. Should any of the commissioners above named refuse or fail to act from any cause whatever, the county commissioners court in session, or any two of the judges of

<Page 3>
the said court in the county in which such refusal or failure happens, may appoint a person to fill such vacancy.

Sec. 8. The said commissioners shall locate said road as far as will be consistent with the public convenience on the county road now established, leading from the line between Putnam and Tazewell counties to Pekin.

Owners of land to be allowed for damages

Sec. 9. When the said road shall run through the lands of any individual or individuals, and the owner or owners thereof shall not consent to the opening of the said road through his or her lands, it shall be the duty of the supervisor to be appointed on the said State road to go before some justice of the peace, and institute such proceedings as are required by the 32d section of an act entitled “An act concerning public roads,” approved February 3d, 1835, to ascertain the damage accruing to such owner or owners by the opening of such road through his or her lands; and it shall be the duty of such justice to proceed in all respects as the said section of said act requires.3 It shall be the duty of the county commissioners’ court of the county in which such lands may lie, to pay to the owner or owners thereof the damages to be assessed as aforesaid.

This act shall be in force from and after its passage.

Approved 10th February, 1837.

1On December 29, 1836, John T. Stuart in the House of Representatives presented the petition of various citizens, requesting the establishment of a state road from Hennepin to Springfield. The House referred the petition to a select committee. In response to this petition, Stuart of the select committee introduced HB 62 in the House on January 3, 1837. On January 10, the House referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on January 12 with an amendment, in which the House concurred. The House passed the bill as amended on January 20. On January 25, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on January 30 with an amendment, in which the Senate concurred. The Senate passed the bill as amended on January 31. The House concurred with the Senate amendment on February 3. On February 10, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 131, 167, 229-30, 240-41, 312, 440, 472, 530, 543, 550; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 268, 288, 296, 320, 326, 352, 383-84.

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.

3Justices were to issue a warrant directed to a constable, commanding the constable to summon three householders to investigate and assess the damages and advantages accruing on individuals affected by the opening of the road.