Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, 24th Feb.[February] 1837.

AN ACT to re-locate a part of the State road from Decatur to Bloomington.
1

Commissioners appointed.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That J. C. Pugh and William Anderson, of Macon county, and Campbell Wakefield, of McLean county, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view, mark and locate a State road from Decatur, in Macon county, the nearest and best

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route, by way of the public bridge on Salt creek, to Clinton in said county, thence the nearest and best route to intersect the county road near David Noble’s, in McLean county; and the county road from said Noble’s to the town of Bloomington is hereby declared a State road.2

Time & place of meeting.

Shall be sworn.

Sec. 2. The said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall meet at Decatur between the first day of June and the first day of September next, 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, and locate said road, doing as little injury to private property as the public good will permit.

Shall cause said road to be marked and make survey & map.

Sec. 3. The said commissioners shall cause said road to be marked in the prairie by suitable stakes well set in the ground; and through the timber, by hacks on the trees; and the said commissioners shall on or before the first Monday in December next, make or cause to be made a true survey and map of said road signed by them respectively, to be lodged with the Clerks of the county commissioners’ courts of Macon and McLean counties.

County commissioners shall cause compensation to be made to said commissioners.

Shall open said road.

Sec. 4. The county commissioners’ courts of Macon and McLean counties shall cause to be paid to each of the said commissioners and surveyor the sum of two dollars per day for each day necessarily employed by them in locating the said road, and shall allow a reasonable compensation to such hands as the commissioners may find it necessary to employ in locating said road; and said road when established shall be opened sixty feet wide, and shall be kept in repair as other State roads are.

Said courts shall defray expenses.

Sec. 5. The county commissioners courts of said counties shall defray the expenses incurred in their respective counties, and so much of the present road as the said commissioners shall deem it expedient to change, is hereby vacated.

Approved 24 February, 1837

1On January 17, 1837, John Moore in the House of Representatives presented the petition of various citizens of Macon and McLean counties, requesting the relocation of a certain state road. The House referred the bill to a select committee. In response to this petition, McLean of the select committee On introduced HB 170 in the House on February 3. On February 8, the House passed the bill. On February 22, the Senate passed the bill. On February 24, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 280, 463, 520, 673, 678, 695; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 377, 481, 488, 492.

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.