Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force January 31, 1837.

AN ACT to locate a State road from York to New Richmond, in Clark county.
1

Commissioners appointed.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Nathan Wells, John Chancellor and Jacob Neel, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view and locate a State road from York to New Richmond, in Clark county.2

When and where to meet,

Shall be sworn.

Oath.

Duty to view road from York to Martinsville thence to [New] Richmond, then to intersect State [Road]

Sec. 2. Said commissioners or a majority of them shall meet at the town of York on the first Monday of March next, or within sixty days thereafter, and after being duly sworn before some justice of the peace of the county of Clark, faithfully and impartially to discharge the duties enjoined upon them by this act, shall proceed to survey and locate a State road from York, commencing at the corner of Union and Fish streets, in the county of Clark, to Milroe’s post office,3 thence to Martinsville, thence to New Richmond in the said county of Clark, thence to intersect the State road leading from Charleston in Coles county, to Marshall in Clark county, upon the best and most practicable route.

Width.
Make a plat & survey and file it with clerk of county commissioners court Clark county.
Commissioners duty
Compensation,

Sec. 3. Said commissioners shall lay out said road four poles wide, and within ten days thereafter, shall cause a complete map or survey of said road to be filed with the clerk of the county commissioners court of Clark county, and the county commissioners of said county shall allow said commissioners such compensation as shall be just and equitable.

Sec. 4. Said road shall be kept in repair when so laid out, as other State roads are.

Approved January 31, 1837.

1On January 3, 1837, William B. Marrs in the House of Representatives presented the petition of various citizens of Clark and Coles counties, requesting a state road. The House referred the petition to a select committee. Responding to the petition, Marrs of the select committee introduced HB 100 in the House on January 9. On January 17, the House passed the bill. On January 18, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on January 23 with an amendment, in which the Senate concurred. On January 24, the Senate passed the bill as amended. On January 27, the House concurred in the Senate amendment. On January 31, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 166, 224, 285, 374, 412, 434, 440; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 242, 250-51, 275, 286, 314, 324.

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.

3On January 23, 1837, the Senate amended the bill by adding “to Milroe’s post office.”
Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 275.