Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, 27th February 1837

AN ACT to locate a State road from Peoria by Oseola, to Galena.
1

Commissioners

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Vance W. Davison of the county of Jo Davies, Jason Hopkins of the county of Whiteside, Robert Moore of the county of Putnam, and Peter Menard jun. of the county of Peoria be, and they are hereby, appointed commissioners to view, mark, and locate a State road2 from Peoria to Galena, on the shortest and best route, having in view the eligibility of the ground, with a view to a permanent road.

Place of meeting.

Sec. 2. The said commissioners, or any two of them, shall meet in the town of Peoria on the first Monday in April next, or within ninety days thereafter, 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, survey, and locate said road. from the public square in the town of Peoria to Oseola in Putnam county, from thence to Galena, via Savanna and Wappelo. Said commissioners shall cause plain marks and blazes to be made upon the trees where the same shall pass through timber, and stakes to be driven in the ground at suitable distances from each other, when the same passes through the prairie; and at the end of each mile, set a durable post on the right of said road with the miles marked thereon progressively.3

Shall make a map.

Sec. 3. As soon as practicable after the said road shall have been located, the said commissioners shall cause to be made a map or plat of the survey of so much of said road as lies in each county through which the same may pass, and forward the same to the clerks of the county commissioners’ courts of the respective counties, who shall file the same in their offices.

Sec. 4. If the said road can be made to intersect the State road leading from Galena to Knoxville at any point north of Rock river without materially changing its course, then and in that case it shall not be necessary for the said commissioners to locate said road any further than the point where the two roads may intersect.

Shall be opened.

Sec. 5. The said road when laid out as is directed by this act, shall be opened and kept in repair as other State roads are required to be, and shall not be altered or changed from its course, except by an act of the legislature.

Compensation.

Sec. 6. The said commissioners, surveyor, and such other persons as may be necessary to aid in laying out said road, shall receive two dollars for each day necessarily employed in performing the work and making returns thereof, to be paid out of the county treasuries of the sev-

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eral counties through which the same may pass, to be paid in proportion to the distance of said road in each.4

Approved, 27th February, 1837.

1On January 30, 1837, John Hamlin in the Senate introduced the petition of citizens of Putnam and Peoria Counties, requesting a state road from Peoria to Galena. The Senate referred the petition to a select committee. In response to this petition, Hamlin of the select committee introduced SB 141 in the Senate on January 31. The Senate passed the bill on February 3. On February 4, the House of Representatives referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 14 with amendments, in which the House concurred. On February 20, the House passed the bill as amended. On February 24, the Senate concurred in the House amendments. On February 27, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 470, 474, 588, 652, 711, 726; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 315, 323, 337, 344-45, 470-71, 514, 530-31, 544.

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 14, 1837, the House of Representatives amended the bill by altering this section.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 588.

4Once surveyed and platted, this road became the origins of the Mount Hawley and Lawn Ridge Road. Evidence suggests, however, that the road envisioned was never actually built.
Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria County ed. by David McCulloch, (Chicago and Peoria: Munsell, 1909), 1:88; Frank E. Stevens, History of Lee County Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1914), 1:48.