In force July 21st, 1837.
AN ACT to provide for the Sale of certain Canal Lands, and for other purposes.
1Power given to canal commissioners to sell lands.
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That if the commissioners of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, shall be of opinion that a sale of parts of the canal lands, during the
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next year, will advance the interests of the state, by affording facilities to contractors in procuring supplies and places for boarding
for hands employed upon the canal, or otherwise, they are authorized to select lots or tracts of land at convenient points along the
line, and sell the same for the purpose aforesaid, and subdivide the said lots or
tracts into lots of not less than forty nor more than eighty acres, the division to
be made to correspond with similar divisions of land sold by the United States; and
the selection to be made, so that no lot shall lie within less than one half mile
of the line of the canal, and the quantity not to exceed in value four hundred thousand dollars; and the lands
so selected shall be valued, advertised, and sold in the manner required for selling
lots in Chicago and Ottawa, but the valuation shall not be made until within twenty days of the sale, and shall
be made as well with reference to the terms of sale as all other considerations affecting
the market value thereof. The place of sale shall be fixed by the commissioners. The
terms of sale shall be, one-tenth of the purchase money to be paid at the time of
sale, and the balance payable in ten equal annual instalments, bearing an interest
of six per cent. per annum from the date of sale, payable annually in advance, subject to the same
conditions and provisions prescribed in reference to the sale of lots in Chicago and Ottawa.
No two sections to be sold together.
Sec. 2. No two quarter sections of land shall be sold under the provisions of this act, which
shall adjoin each other.
Terms of sale.
Sec. 3. The terms of the sales authorized to be made by the act which was approved on the
second day of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty seven, shall
be the same as those prescribed in this act; and the sales under that act shall be
limited to the actual wants of the canal funds.
Sec. 4. In negotiating loans which have been or may be authorized for the construction
of the canal, the governor, shall, if practicable, contract to receive the money borrowed, in
sums of one hundred thousand dollars, or less, at such times as the same may be wanting
for use upon the canal.
Navigable feeder
Sec. 5. In the construction of the navigable feeder and lateral canal at Ottawa, the canal commissioners may so alter the plan heretofore prescribed, as to connect
the said feeder or lateral canal with Fox river, instead of the Illinois river, or make any other change which in their judgment may be best calculated to enhance
the value of state property, and the usefulness of the canal.
Resurvey to be made.
Sec. 6. The canal commissioners are authorized to make a resurvey of those parts or additions
to the town of
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Ottawa, wherein lots are authorized to be sold, and change the lines of the lots and streets,
so as to make those lines correspond with the lines of that part of the town wherein
the lots have heretofore been sold; or they may make the said lines in such manner
as they may deem best for the interest of the State.
Bason may be enlarged.
Block Number fourteen to be appropriated.
Sec. 7. The canal commissioners are authorized to enlarge the natural bason at the confluence of the north and south branches of the Chicago river, so as to render the same as useful and convenient as possible; and block number
seven, of the canal lots in the city of Chicago, shall be reserved from sale for the purpose of exchanging the same for block number
fourteen, which will be required to be removed in the enlargement of the said bason; and the said commissioners are hereby required to cause the aforesaid block number
fourteen to be appropriated for the purpose aforesaid, and to proceed to obtain the
title to the same, in the manner provided by law for obtaining lands or materials
for the use of the canal.
Block 14, when appraised.
Sec. 8. When the board of appraisement shall appraise the said block fourteen, they shall
also appraise the aforesaid block seven, and if the owners of block fourteen will
take in exchange for the same, block number seven, at the appraisement thereof, the
canal commissioners are authorized to make the exchange, taking from the said owner
a sufficient conveyance for said block to the state, and giving to such owner a certificate of purchase for block seven, stating therein
the facts of the transaction; and if block seven shall be appraised to more than block
fourteen, the said owner shall be required to pay the difference in a reasonable time,
to be fixed by the canal commissioners; and upon such payment being made, the said
owner shall be entitled to a patent for the same; but if said block shall be valued
to less than block fourteen, or the same sum, he shall be entitled to a patent, upon
executing the conveyance aforesaid. If the difference in value shall be in favor of
the said owner, the canal commissioners shall pay the same out of the canal fund;
but if no such agreement is made, as herein contemplated, the aforesaid block fourteen
shall, nevertheless, be obtained and appropriated, as herein provided, and block number
seven shall be subject to sale as other lots in Chicago now are.
Duty of treasurer.
Sec. 9. The treasurer of the board of canal commissioners shall not hereafter be required
to perform any other duties than those pertaining to the office of treasurer alone,
nor shall he hereafter be considered as one of the board of canal commissioners.
The said board shall hereafter be composed of the president and acting commissioner,
who shall perform all the duties required of the canal commissioners,
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except such as relate to the duties of treasurer; nevertheless, it is hereby declared
and enacted, that whenever the board as organized by this section, shall disagree
in opinion upon any question, matter or thing, in relation to the canal, the powers or duties of the board, or of any agent or any other matter whatever,
touching their duties as canal commissioners, the treasurer is hereby constituted
and appointed the umpire to give the casting vote upon every such difference, and
in giving such vote, he shall be considered as bound for the consequences thereof,
as a canal commissioner; and the board of commissioners shall act upon all decisions
made by the umpire as aforesaid, as though the three making the decision were all
canal commissioners.
Governor authorized to negotiate loan.
Sec. 10. In the event that the funds provided by existing laws, shall prove insufficient to
meet the expenditures upon the canal for the years 1837 and 1838, the Governor is authorized to negotiate a loan upon
the faith and credit of the state, not exceeding in amount three hundred thousand dollars, to meet any deficit which
may occur; said loan shall be negotiated in the manner and upon the terms, and the
state assumes the responsibilities, as provided for in relation to the loan authorized
by the “act entitled an act for the construction of the Illinois and Michigan canal,” approved on the 9th of January, 1836; Provided, That said loan shall not be made until the whole of the means available under existing
laws, shall have been exhausted.2
Approved, 21st July, 1837.
1William Thomas introduced SB 18 in the Senate on July 14, 1837. The Senate tabled the bill and ordered it printed. On July 17,
the Senate took up the bill, referring it to the Committee on Canals and Canal Lands.
The Committee on Canals and Canal Lands reported back the bill on July 20 with an
amendment. The Senate amended the amendment by adding an additional section, then
tabled the bill and amendment. The Senate later re-considered the vote to amend the
amendment, rejecting the amendment to the amendment by a vote of 17 yeas to 22 nays.
The Senate then concurred in the Committee on Canal and Canal Lands’ amendment.
The Senate passed the bill as amended on July 21. On July 21, the House of Representatives refused to strike out the tenth section by a vote of 33 yeas to 40 nays, with Abraham Lincoln voting nay. The House passed the bill without amendment. On July 21, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1837. 10th G. A., special sess., 151, 161-62, 174; Illinois Senate Journal. 1837. 10th G. A., special sess., 47, 78, 106, 110-11, 117, 137, 141, 146.
2On July 20, 1837, the Senate amended the bill by adding an eleventh section. The Senate later re-considered this vote and rejected
the proposed amendment.
Illinois Senate Journal. 1837. 10th G. A., special session, 106, 110-11.
A year and a half later, the legislature repealed the latter stipulation in section
10.
Printed Document, 4 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at their Special Session (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1837), 10-13, GA Session: 10-S,