Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force March 1, 1837.

AN ACT providing for the location of a State road from Danville to New Castle.
1

Names of commissioners.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Russel Post, Jonas Whitney, and William Hankins, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view, mark, and locate a road to commence at New Castle, Tazewell county, thence to Syracuse on section six, town twenty north, range four west from the third principal meridian in the county of Sangamon,2 thence to Havana in the county of Tazewell.3

Commissioners to meet at New Castle.

To be sworn.

Shall file a survey and plat.

Sec. 2. Said commissioners shall meet at the town of New Castle,4 on or before the first Monday of June next, or within sixty days thereafter, and after being duly sworn by some justice of the peace to discharge their duty under this act, faithfully and impartially, shall proceed to mark, view, locate, and survey said road, and shall file a survey and field notes, together with a map of said road, in the office of the clerks of the county commissioners court’s of the several counties through which the same may pass.

Said road to be state road.

Sec. 3. Said road when laid out as aforesaid, shall be deemed a state road,5 and the county commissioners courts of the several counties through which the same may pass, shall cause the same to be opened and worked and kept in repair as other state roads are.

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Said commissioners may employ county surveyor.

Chainmen to be paid by counties.

Sec. 4. Said commissioners shall be authorised to employ a county surveyor of some one of the counties through which said road may run, and the necessary chainmen to survey said road, and said surveyor and chainmen, shall receive a reasonable compensation for their services, to be paid out of the county treasuries of the several counties, proportional to the number of miles of said road in each county.

To make a full report.

Compensation

Sec. 5. The said commissioners shall make a full report of their doings under this act, and file the same with the survey, field notes, and map of said road, and shall each be allowed the sum of two dollars per day for their services to be paid proportionally, out of the county treasuries of the several counties through which said road may run.

This act to be in force from and after its passage.

Approved March 1, 1837.

1On January 25, 1837, James H. Lyons in the House of Representatives presented a petition from citizens seeking a state road from Danville to Warsaw, and the House referred the petition to a select committee. In response to this petition, Lyons of the select committee introduced HB 154 on January 30, and the House referred the bill to a different select committee. On February 2, the committee reported back the bill with amendments, which the House concurred. On February 8, the House passed the bill as amended, amending the bill title by striking out “Warsaw” and inserting “Havana.” On February 21, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 22 with amendments, in which the Senate concurred. The Senate passed the bill as amended, amending the bill title by striking out “Havana” and inserting in lieu thereof “Newcastle.” On February 27, the House concurred in the Senate amendments. On March 1, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 377-78, 423-24, 449, 522, 670, 733, 768, 794; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 378, 482, 484-85, 569, 572.

2Located in the northwest corner in what would become, after 1839, Logan County, northwest of Lincoln.

3On February 22, 1837, the Senate amended the first section of the bill by striking out the name “Nathan Bresey” and inserting in lieu thereof the name “William Hankins.” It also changed the point of commence and some of the points of contact along the route.
Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 484.

4On February 22, 1837, the Senate amended the bill by changing the meeting place.
Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 484.

5State 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.