Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force 28th Feb. 1837.

AN ACT to locate a State road from a point on the Mississippi river opposite Burlington to Farmington, in Fulton county.
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Commissioners

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That Roland Simmons of Warren county, Job Babot and Nathaniel B. Childs of Fulton county be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view, mark and locate a road from a point on the Mississippi river, opposite Burlington by the way of Greenfield in Warren county, Augustine, Smithfield and Troy to Farmington, in Fulton county.

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Time of meeting.

To be sworn.

Post at each mile

Sec. 2. Said commissioners shall meet in Farmington on the first Monday in April next, or as soon thereafter as they convenientty can, and after being duly sworn before some justice of the peace faithfully to discharge the duties required of them by this act, shall proceed to view, mark, locate and survey said road, doing as little injury to private property as the public good will permit, and at the end of each mile they shall set a post of durable timber, and inscribe thereon in legible figures the No. of miles from the place of beginning.

Shall make map

Transmit to clerks

Sec. 3. Said commissioners shall on or before the first Monday in July next make a map or plat of said road, describing particularly the courses and distances thereon, which lies in the respective counties, and transmit the same to each of the clerks of the county commissioners’ courts respectively, to be by him filed in his office and preserved.

Compensation

Sec. 4. The county commissioners’ courts of the respective counties shall cause to be paid to the said road commissioners, and such hands as the said commissioners may find it necessary to employ in making and surveying said road, such compensation out of the county treasury as they may deem reasonable, to be paid out of said county treasury in proportion to the extent of said road in each county.

Sec. 5. When said road shall be thus located, it shall be deemed a state road2 four poles wide, and shall be opened and kept in repair as other high-ways are.

Commissioners

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That John Humphreys of Warren county, Isaac Miller of Mercer county, and John W. Spencer of Rock-Island county, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view, mark, and locate a road from Monmouth in Warren county, (via) Grandview, to Stephenson in Rock-Island county.

Shall be sworn

Sec. 7. The said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall meet in the town of Monmouth on the first Monday in June next, or as soon thereafter as they conveniently can, and after being first duly sworn before some justice of the peace faithfully to discharge the duties required of them by this act, shall proceed to view, mark and locate said road, doing as little injury to private property as the public good will permit.

Commissioners court shall pay

Sec. 8. The county commissioners’ courts of the respective counties shall cause to be paid to the said road commissioners such compensation out of the county treasuries as they may deem reasonable, to be paid out of said county treasuries in proportion to the extent of said road in each county.

Sec. 9. When said road shall be thus located it shall

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be deemed a state road four poles wide, and shall be opened and kept in repair as other public high-ways are.3

Approved 28th February, 1837.

1On January 16, 1837, Jonas Rawalt in the House of Representatives presented the petition of citizens of Fulton, Peoria, and Warren counties, regarding a state road. The House referred the petition to a select committee. In response to this petition, Rawalt of the select committee introduced HB 132 in the House on January 17. The House passed the bill on February 8. On February 11, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 21 with amendments, in which the Senate concurred. On February 22, the Senate passed the bill as amended. On February 27, the House concurred in the Senate amendments. On February 28, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 264, 281, 402-03, 424, 519, 673, 734, 752, 766; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 377, 390, 398, 471-72, 487-88, 552, 569.

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 February 21, 1837, the Senate amended the bill by adding sections six, sevens, eight, and nine.
Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 471-72.