Sec[Section] 1 Be it enacted by the people of the state of Illinois Represented in the General Assembly That Thomas M^cKibben, George W. Casseday[,] Isaac P. Walker[,] Charles S. Galusha, William Bandy[,] Frederick Scarborough and Thomas O. Neale be, and they, are hereby appointed Commissioners for the purposes hereinafter mentioned; with power to contract and be contracted with, to sue and be sued, to plead and be impleaded, and to do all other acts & things, to carry into effect the objects of this act, upon the plan, and under the regulations and restrictions hereinafter pointed out

Sec 2. That said Commissioners are authorized and required, so soon as practicable after the first day of May A.D. 1837. to survey or cause to be surveyed, all that part of the Big Vermilion River, below the mouth of the North fork thereof, lying within the County of Vermilion in the state of Illinois: and if they should deem it practicable, to render said stream navigable, by slacking the water with dams and locks then they are to make out a written estimate of the number of Dams and locks required: the size of the locks, the necessary excavation at such Dam, for the Admission of Boats into the locks, and the amount it will cost to construct each Dam and lock, and do the necessary excavation aforesaid: To which estimate shall be added a particular statement of the location of each Dam and lock, and the height necessary for each Dam: Duplicate copies of said Estimate and state-

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ment shall be made out, by said Commissioners one copy of which shall be recorded in the Recorders office of said County, and the other retained by by said Commissioners

Sec 3 Said Commissioners shall immediately after recording one copy as aforesaid, make out a correct platt of said River, noticing thereon, the location of each Dam: the precise distance between them; and the fall of the stream from each Dam to the next one below it: a copy of which plot shall be filed in the Recorders office of said County, and a Record made thereof

Sec 4. Said Commissioners after performing the duties required by the preceeding sections, shall make out drafts of the Dams and locks, upon the plan, they or a majority of them may think most conducive to the free navigation of said River Provided that no draft or plan shall require a greater sum to execute than is set forth in the recorded estimate; said Commissioners shall then contract separately with each and every of the Owners of the land, where the different Dams and locks are to be constructed, for the construction of the same, together with the necessary excavation for the admission of boats, according to the plan or draft by said Commissioners previously made out: in which contract the contractor shall bind himself under a penalty of double the amount of cost of the work, for which he contracts for the entire completion of the work, by himself, his, heirs

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or assigns, within eighteen months from the date of the contract, according to the plan of the Commissioners, which shall be set out, in said contract: There shall also be added to said contracts, Covenants that the said Owner or owners his, her or their heirs, and assigns shall and will at all times keep said Dam and lock, for the building or constructing of which, he she or they have contracted in good repair, and in readiness for the passage of boats: all of which contracts shall descend and run with the land, where the dam and locks are built. The consideration for which building, construction, and excavation as aforesaid shall be the free and undisturbed use of the water, where the dam and lock are to be built, by the person or persons, contracting to build the same, their heirs and assigns for hydraulic purposes

Sec 5. If the Owner or Owners of any land where a dam and lock, are to be constructed, shall not contract with said Commissioners as aforesaid, within one month, after he, she, or they may be requested, said Commissioners are authorised to contract with any other person or persons, for the completion of the work, in the same manner as is herein before pointed out. In all such cases said commissioners are required to value so much land on the Bank of the River belonging to said person or persons, failing to contract, as will be necessary for the erection of machinery

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upon the dams and locks aforesaid: and the necessary accommodation of the same: And by deed convey said land to the said contractor, upon his paying to the owner or owners thereof the appraised value of said land: which deed shall operate to vest absolutely in said Contractor and his heirs a title in fee Simple to said land

Sec 6. Where the land on the different sides of the River, where any Dam or lock are to be built shall be owned by different persons the Commissioners shall contract with the person or persons owning the land, on either side of the river who will bind himself or themselves to pay the largest sum of money, over and above the estimated cost of the particular work. Which sum over and above the estimated cost as aforesaid, shall when collected, be applied by said Commissioners to defray the expense incurred by them in discharging the duties required by this act

Sec. 7. Said Commissioners shall have power to employ a competent Engineer, to assist them in carrying into effect the requisitions of this act: for whose services said Commissioners shall pay out of the per centage hereinafter mentioned

Sec. 8. Said [Certifications?]

Sec 8. Said contractors shall each pay to said Commissioners before or at the time of entering into contract as aforesaid, one per cent, upon the estimated cost of the work for which he, she or they are about to contract, as a compensation to said Commissioners for their Services, and for the discharge of the expense incurred by said Commissioners in procuring an Engineer for the purposes aforesaid

Sec 9. Any person who shall wilfully break, destroy, or injure any dam or lock constructed under the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not less than fifty, nor more than One thousand dollarsAnd if any person whomsoever shall erect a Dam, pier, weir, bridge, abutment or any thing else, by which the navigation of said River shall be injured, or the hydraulic privileges herein, mentioned, shall be injured or lessened in value, or the enjoyment thereof in any manner disturbed, such person shall be indicted as at common law for creating a common nuisance, and shall on conviction thereof be fined in any sum not less than fifty nor more than one thousand dollars, and it shall be the duty of the Circuit Court before whom any conviction shall be had, to order the sheriff of the county

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with his “posse comitatus” to proceed to the place and effectually abate such nuisance and such persons shall morover be liable in a civil action to the persons injured for all such damages and injury that may have occasioned by such obstructions or impediments aforesaid, together with Costs of Suit

Sec 10. Said Commissioners shall have power to sue for all breaches of contracts under this act pertaining to the final completion of all the Dams and locks, and necessary excavation required hereinAnd when all of said works are completed, said Commissioners are to assign by endorsement thereon without liability all contracts made under this act, to the County Commissioners of the County in which such works are; after which all of said contracts shall be sued by said County Commissioners when violatedSaid Commissioners shall also deliver to said County Commissioners, all drafts, estimates and accounts, which they may have in their possession relating to the contracts under this act: and from which time their duties shall cease

Sec. 11. In all cases under this act of a similar nature, the law regulating proceedings under writs of ad quod damnum shall be applicable to the same

Sec 12. That the act repealing an act declaring the Big Vermilion a Navigable Stream shall not be construed to have any application to this act on any of the provisions thereof.