Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force March 2, 1837.

AN ACT for a State road from Jacksonville to Syracuse and Bloomington.

Duty of commissioners.

Place of commencement.

Termination of road.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Russell Post, Jonas Whitney, and John Armstrong,1 be and they are hereby appointed commissioners, whose duty it shall be to view, mark, survey, and locate a state road,2 to commence at the county line of Morgan county, where the state road leading by William Crow’s to Petersburg crosses the same, thence by way of Greensburg 3 to Petersburg in Sangamon county, thence to Syracuse on section six, town twenty north, range four west from the third principal meridian in said county of Sangamon,4 at which place said road shall terminate.

To intersect state road.

Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of the aforesaid commissioners to view, mark, survey, and locate a state road as follows: commencing at Petersburg in Sangamon county, thence to Postville, thence to Waynesville, and Isaac Funk’s, 5 thence to intersect the state road leading from Springfield to Bloomington, at or near the farm of Lemuel Foster in McLean county.6

When and where to meet

To be sworn

Shall survey & when survey is completed shall be filed in clerks office

Shall be filed in clerks office.

Sec. 3. Said commissioners shall meet on or before the first Monday of June next, or within sixty days thereafter at the house of William Crow in Morgan county, and after being duly sworn according to law, by some justice of the peace faithfully and impartially according to the best of their skill and understanding, to execute and discharge the duties imposed on them by this act, shall proceed to view, survey, locate, and mark or stake out said roads from point to point as mentioned in the foregoing sections of this act, upon the nearest and best routes avoiding as much as practicable, any injury to farms, improvements, and private property on said routes, and when said commissioners shall have completed their surveys and locations

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of the roads aforesaid, they shall make a complete plat together with the field notes thereof, which shall be filed in the office of the several clerks of the county commissioners’ courts through which said roads may pass, within one month after said said roads are surveyd and located, shall be deemed public state roads.

Supervisors to be appointed.

Sec. 4. The county commissioners’ courts of the several counties through which said roads pass, shall appoint supervisors of said roads, who shall cause the same to be opened fifty feet wide, and kept in repair as other state roads.

Compensation

Sec. 5. The county commissioners’ courts of the several counties through which said roads pass, shall allow to each of said road commissioners a compensation for their services not exceeding two dollars per day to each of said commissioners, and to be paid out of the county treasuries of such counties, in proportion to the portion of said roads in each county.

Approved March 2d, 1837.

1On January 30, 1837, the House of Representatives amended the bill by striking out the name,“William Montgomery,” and inserting in lieu thereof the name, “John Armstrong.”
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 424.

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 30, 1837, the House of Representatives amended the bill by adding “by way of Greensburg.”

4Located on what would become the border of Mason and Logan counties.

5On February 17, 1837, the Senate amended the bill by adding the words “and Isaac Funk‘s.”
Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 447.

6On January 30, 1837, the House of Representatives amended the bill by striking out the name “Bloomington” and inserting in lieu thereof the words,“intersect the State road leading from Springfield to Bloomington at or near the farm of Lemuel Foster in McLean County.”