Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, 31st Jan 1837.

AN ACT to locate a State road from Peoria, in Peoria county, to Knoxville in Knox county, and for other purposes.
1

Commissioners appointed to view road from Peoria to Knoxville, & to west line Knox county, &c.[etc.]

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Ashael Hall and Amos Stevens, of Peoria county, and Lester T. Gillet, of Knox county, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view, survey, and locate a road from Peoria, in Peoria county, to Knoxville and to the west line of Knox county, and at the place where the Monmouth road strikes the line of said county, on the south-east quarter of section No. 25, T.[Township] 11, N.[North] R.[Range] 1 West.2

Where and when to meet

To be sworn

Oath Duty.

Map & survey to be made & filed in clerks’ offices of counties through which it passes

Sec. 2. The said commissioners, or any two of them, shall meet at Peoria on the first Monday in June next, or within four months thereafter, who, after being duly sworn before some justice of the peace faithfully to discharge the duties enjoined on them by the provisions of this act, shall proceed to view, survey, and locate said road upon the nearest and best practicable route, so as to make it a permanent and good road: They shall set permanent posts at every half mile in the prairie, and mark the trees in the timber: and the said commissioners shall, on or before the first Monday in October, make or cause to be made true surveys and maps of said road, signed by them, and lodged in the office of the clerk of the county commissioners’ court of the several counties through which the said road may pass or be laid.

Declared a State road

County commissioners duty

Sec. 3. The said road, when laid out as aforesaid, shall be deemed and considered State road,3 and the county commissioners’ courts of the counties through which said road may pass, shall appoint supervisors over the same, and cause it to be opened four poles wide, and to be worked and kept in good repair.

Compensation

Sec. 4. The commissioners appointed under the provisions of this act shall receive a just and fair compensation of not less than one dollar and fifty cents per day each for the time they are necessarily employed; and they may employ a surveyor and chain-carriers, who shall receive a fair compensation for their services, each county paying its proportion for the time necessarily employed therein.

Approved 31st January, 1837.

1On January 2, 1837, Francis Voris in the House of Representatives presented the petition of various citizens of Peoria County, requesting location of a state road from Peoria to Knoxville. The House referred the petition to a select committee. Responding to the petition, Voris of the select committee introduced the bill in the House on January 11. The House passed the bill on January 20. On January 23, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on January 24 with amendments, in which the Senate concurred. On January 25, the Senate passed the bill as amended, amending the title by striking out the words, “and for other purposes.” On January 26, the House concurred in the Senate amendment, but did not concur in the amended title. On January 31, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 154, 233, 312, 386, 404, 414, 418, 440; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 268, 280, 283-84, 295, 309, 313, 316.

2Located at Galesburg.
“Counties, Townships, and Ranges in Illinois,” Maps, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Reference.aspx?ref=Reference html files/LandMeasurement.html.

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.
An Act concerning Public Roads, sec. 9; An Act Authorizing Commissioners’ Courts to Alter, Change, and Relocate State Roads; An Act concerning Public Roads.