Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Wm. McMurtry of Knox county, Thomas Spragins of Jo Daviess county, John H. Stephenson of Ogle county, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners, whose duty it shall be to locate a permanent seat of justice in and for the county of Mercer.

Sec. 2. The above named commissioners or a majority

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of them, shall meet at the town of New Boston in Mercer county, on the first Monday of April next, or within six months thereafter, and after being duly sworn by some justice of the peace faithfully to take into consideration the geographical boundaries of the county, the convenience of the inhabitants, the situation of the settlements that are or may hereafter be made, and the eligibility of situations, shall proceed to fix upon a place for said county seat.

Sec. 3. The said commissioners or a majority of them, are hereby authorized to locate said seat of justice in any town now laid off into lots, Provided, that the proprietor or proprietors thereof, shall donate and with covenants of general warranty to said county of Mercer, lots of an average value, with the remaining lots in such town, equal in all to at least thirty acres of land, or on private property if the proprietor thereof shall donate to the county at least twenty acres of land, on which the court house and other public buildings shall be erected, or on lands belonging to the United States, and in that case it shall be the duty of the county commissioners court of said county, as soon thereafter as practicable, to purchase the same for the use of said county of Mercer.

Sec. 4. When the said commissioners or a majority of them, shall have agreed upon a place for the county seat, as herein provided, they shall make report thereof under their hands, describing particularly the place which they have so selected, to the county commissioners court of said county of Mercer, who at their next term shall cause the same to be entered upon the records of said court, and the said place so selected shall be and remain the permanent seat of justice of the aforesaid county.

Sec. 5. The proceeds of the sales of all the lands that shall become the property of the county by virtue of this act, shall be applied to the erection of a court house and jail and such other public works as may be necessary and useful to said county, and the county commissioners are hereby authorized to make conveyance to the purchaser thereof, in their own names as commissioners for, and in behalf of said county.

Sec. 6. The commissioners appointed to make the location aforesaid, shall each receive the sum of three dollars per day, for each day by them necessarily employed in discharging the duties imposed on them by this act, to be allowed by the county commissioners court, and paid out of the treasury of said county of Mercer.2

Approved, March 4th, 1837.