In force, Feb.[February] 27, 1837.
AN ACT to establish a State road from Ottawa to Ownes, at High point.
1Commissioners appointed to locate road
Road
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That John Ankeny, Stephen Fellows, and John Dexter be,2 and they are hereby appointed to view, lay out, locate, and survey a state road from
a point on the county line of La Salle county, where a county road from Ottawa passing through Troy grove in said county terminates, said county road from Ottawa to the county line, is hereby declared a State road,3 in a northwesterly direction to the rocky ford, thence to the nearest and best route
to Dixon’s Ferry on Rock river, thence to the town of Elkhorn,4 and from thence to Ownes at High point.
When and where to meet
Sec. 2. Said commissioners shall meet at Dixon’s ferry on the first Monday of May next, or as soon thereafter as convenient, and after being
duly sworn by some justice of the peace well and truly to perform the duties above
required, shall proceed to survey and locate said road as required by this act, having
in view the convenience of the inhabitants, and the permanency thereof.
Commissioners shall make a plat of road & transmit it to clerk of commissioners courts
Plat shall be filed
Road how opened and kept in repair
Road how opened and kept in repair
Sec. 3. As soon as practicable after said road is located, said commissioners shall make a map or plat of so much of said road, as lies within
the respective counties, and transmit it to the clerks of the county commissioners courts of the respective counties through which the same may pass, which shall be filed
and preserved in the office of said courts, and the said road shall be opened and kept in repair as other state roads are required
to be by law.
Compensation
Sec. 4. The county commissioners courts of the respective counties through which said road shall pass, shall allow said commissioners
and all others rendering service, a reasonable compensation to be paid out of their county treasuries in proportion
to the distance said road shall be located in the same.
Approved 27th Feb., 1837.
1On January 9, 1837, William Stadden in the Senate introduced a petition from citizens of La Salle and Ogle counties, requesting a state road from Ottawa north, to intersect the Galena and Peoria state road. The House referred the petition
to the Committee on Petitions. In response to this petition, John D. Whiteside from the Committee on Petitions introduced SB 72 in the Senate on January 12. The Senate passed the bill on January 14. On January
26, the House of Representatives referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill
on February 14 with an amendment, in which the House concurred. On February 20, the
House passed the bill as amended. On February 24, the Senate concurred in the House
amendment. On February 27, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 263, 270, 395, 589, 652, 711, 726; Illinois Senate
Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 174, 199, 210, 218, 470-71, 514, 530-31, 544.
2On February 14, 1837, the House of Representatives amended the bill by changing the names of the commissioners.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 589.
3State 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.
Printed Document, 1 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Tenth General Assembly (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1837), 210, GA Session: 10-1