Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, 18th March, 1837.

AN ACT to locate a state road from the Indiana line, northwest in a direction to Mineral Point.
1

Commissioners appointed to locate road.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Charles Reed, of the county of Will, Reuben Critchfield of the county of Iroquois, and David Dunham,2 of the county of Kane be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners to run, survey, mark, and locate a State road3 from the Indiana State line, at a point on said State line where State roads from Warren and Jasper counties unite by the way of the county seat of Iroquois county, Winchester, Juliett, Geneva, Sycamore, Murray and Gualt Mills,4 on the south branch of Kishwakee and Winnebago, to the State line, at or near Rock Grove, in a direction towards Mineral Point, having in view the most direct and eligible route for its permanency and a due regard to the public convenience.

When and where to meet.

To be sworn & duty.

Sec. 2. Said commissioners or a majority of them, shall meet at the house of Isaac Courtright in said Iroquois county, on the first Monday in April next, or as soon thereafter as practicable; and, after being duly sworn by some justice of the peace, shall proceed to perform the duties required of them by this act.

To make report.

To be a state road.

Sec. 3. Said commissioners shall, as soon as convenient, after having located said road, make a report in writing to the county commissioners courts of the respective counties through which said road shall pass. Said report shall form a part of the records of said courts, and said road

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thus laid out shall be a public highway of this State, and the county commissioners court of each county through which the said road may pass, shall cause the same to be opened and kept in repair as other State roads are required to be by law.

Compensation.

Sec. 4. The county commissioners courts of the counties through which said road shall pass shall allow to said commissioners, a surveyor and chain carriers, a reasonable compensation for their services, to be paid out of the county treasuries of the respective counties in proportion to the distance said road may pass through the same.

Approved, 1st March, 1837.

1On January 3, 1837, Isaac Courtright in the House of Representatives presented the petition of citizens of Iroquois, Will, Winnebago, and Kane counties, requesting the construction of certain state roads through their respective counties. The House referred the petition to the Committee on Roads and Canals. In response to this petition, Newton Cloud from the Committee on Roads and Canals introduced HB 95 in the House on January 9. On January 26, the House referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 9 with amendments, in which the House concurred. ,On February 18, the House amended the first section by striking out the name “Henry Madden” and inserting in lieu thereof the name“David Dunham.” The House then passed the bill as amended. On February 27, the Senate passed the bill. On March 1, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 166, 202, 399, 535, 641, 731, 760, 795; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 463-64, 511, 517, 531, 555.

2On February 18, 1837, the House of Representatives amended the bill by striking out the name “Henry Madden” and inserting in lieu thereof the name“David Dunham.”
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 641.

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.
An Act concerning Public Roads, sec. 9; An Act Authorizing Commissioners’ Courts to Alter, Change, and Relocate State Roads; An Act concerning Public Roads.

4Gault’s Mill was a sawmill located near Kingston in DeKalb County.
Lewis M. Gross, Past and Present of DeKalb County, Illinois (Chicago: Pioneer, 1907), 1:7, 158.