Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, 4th March, 1837

AN ACT to relocate State roads therein named.
1

Commissioners appointed

Where and when to meet.

To be sworn.

To reportRoad to be opened and kept in repair

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Peter Casper and Samuel Hunsuker, of Union county, and John L. Hodge of Alexander county be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view, mark, and relocate a state road, leading from the mouth of the Ohio river, in Alexander county to Jonesboro’, in Union county. Said commissioners shall meet at the town of Jonesboro’, on the first Monday in July next, or as soon thereafter as practicable; and after being duly sworn before some justice of the peace, faithfully to discharge their duties according to this act, shall proceed to review and relocate said road as aforesaid, on the most practicable route, so as to pass through the town of Unity. Said commissioners, after having reviewed and relocated said road, shall report the same to the county commissioners’ courts of their respective counties, and said courts shall cause said road to be opened and kept in repair as other State roads are.2

Compensation allowed

Sec. 2. When said commissioners shall report their proceedings to the county commissioners’ courts as afore-

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said, said courts shall allow said commissioners a reasonable compensation, each county paying in proportion to the length of said road in the same.

David Hailman authorised to raise and continue his mill dam, not to exceed eight feet in height

Sec. 3. David Hailman is hereby authorised to raise and continue his mill dam across Cash river, at the town of Unity, in Alexander county, Provided, the same shall not exceed eight feet in height above the surface of the water at low water mark.

Road vacated

Sec. 4. The parts of the road leading from Jonesboro’ to the mouth of the Ohio river, which lies on different ground from the relocation herein contemplated be, and the same is hereby vacated.

Commissioners appointed to locate road.

Make duplicate plats. One plat to be filed in each county

Sec. 5. That John Hicks, of Union county, and James Herrald, of Jackson county be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view, mark, and locate a state road from John Freeman’s ferry, by John Hurst’s landing on the Mississippi river, to James Herrald’s farm, on the Jonesboro’ road, and shall make duplicate plats thereof, and file one of them with the clerk of the county commissioners’ court of Union county, and the other in the clerk’s office of the county commissioners of Jackson county. The said road when so laid out shall be opened and kept in repair as other State roads are.

Compensation, and how paid.

Sec. 6. The county commissioners of said counties shall pay said commissioners a reasonable compensation for the time necessarily employed by them in reviewing and locating said road, to be paid by said connties, for the time so spent in the boundary of the respective counties.

Approved 4th March, 1837.

1An unknown representative introduced HB 235 in the House of Representatives on or before February 22, 1837. The House referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 22 with an amendment, in which the House concurred. The House passed the bill as amended on February 24. On February 27, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on March 4 with an amendment, in which the Senate concurred. The Senate passed the bill as amended. The House concurred with the Senate amendments on March 4. On March 4, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 671, 706, 841, 845, 855; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 525-26, 544-45, 624, 632-33, 634.

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.