Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force 22d July, 1837.

AN ACT to locate a State Road from Petersburg, in Sangamon county, to Macomb, in McDonough county, and for other purposes.
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Commissioners appointed

Sec[Section]. 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Pollard Simons, of Sangamon county, Clayton M. Montgomery, of Schuyler county, and John D. Walker, of McDonough county, Nathan Veach2, of Fulton county, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view, mark, and locate a state road from Petersburg, in Sangamon county, to Macomb, in McDonough county, crossing the Illinois river at Knight’s ferry, thence through the town of Montgomery, in Schuyler county.

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Time & place of meeting

Sec. 2. Said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall meet at Petersburg, in Sangamon county, on the first Monday in September next, or within two months thereafter, and having been duly sworn by some justice of the peace, faithfully to perform the duties required of them by this act, shall proceed to view, mark, and locate a state road on the route aforesaid, from point to point, having due regard to the public convenience, and doing as little damage to private property as possible.

Map of survey to be made

Sec. 3. Said commissioners shall mark the trees through the timber, and plant stakes through the prairies; and shall, as soon as possible, make and file with the clerks of the commissioners’ courts of the counties through which said road shall pass, a map of the survey and location of so much of said road as lies in each county respectively, indicating thereon the points, and distances from point to point; and thereafter said road shall be deemed a public highway, and opened and kept in repair as other state roads are.

Compensation to commiss’rs.[commissioners]

Sec. 4. The county commissioners’ courts of the several counties through which said road shall pass, shall pay a reasonable compensation to said commissioners and all persons necessarily employed by them, to be paid by said counties in proportion to the distance said road shall run in each of them.

Road from Salem to Greenville

Sec. 5. That the county road from Salem, in Marion county, via Master’s ferry, on the Kaskaskia river, to Greenville, in Bond county, be and the same is hereby declared a state road.3

When & where to meet

Sec. 6. James McAdams, James Burnsides, and William Burgiss, or a majority of them, shall meet at Martin’s ferry, in Clinton county, on the first Wednesday in August next, or as soon thereafter as possible, and after being duly sworn faithfully to perform the duties required of them, shall proceed to view, mark, and locate a state road from Martin’s ferry, via Stout’s mill, on Shoal creek, so as to intersect a road leading from the Madison county line, via Marine town and Edwardsville, to Alton, in Madison county, at the most eligible point; which road so located, and the road it shall intersect, shall be a state road, andd shall be kept in repair as other state roads are.4

Plat to be made

Compensation

Proviso.

Further proviso

Sec. 7. The said commissioners shall, as soon as convenient, make out a plat of said road so located, which plat shall be recorded in the county courts through which the same shall pass; and the said commissioners shall be allowed a reasonable compensation from their respective county treasuries for the time necessarily employed in said service. The county commissioners’ court of Madison county be and it is hereby authorized and empowered

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to cause to be reviewed and relocated any state road in said county, in the same manner, and under the same restrictions as other roads in said county may be reviewed and relocated: Provided, No state road shall be altered or changed at the point where the same may cross the line of said county: Provided, That the road from Benjamin Johnson’s, in Bond county, by John Charter’s, L. S. Judd’s, to Anderson’s bridge, in Madison county, be excepted from the operation of this act.5

Approved, 22d July, 1837.

1On July 11, 1837, George W. P. Maxwell in the Senate presented the petition of sundry citizens of Schuyler, McDonough, and Sangamon counties, requesting a state road from Sangamon to McDonough County. The House referred the petition to a select committee. In response to this petition, Maxwell from the aforesaid select committee introduced the bill in the Senate on July 17, and the Senate passed it. On July 20, the House of Representatives amended the bill by adding several sections. The House passed the bill as amended, amending the title by adding the words “and for other purposes.” The Senate concurred with the House amendments and amended title on July 21. On July 22, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Journal of the House of Representatives of the Tenth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at a Special Session of the General Assembly, Begun and Held in the Town of Vandalia, July 10, 1837 (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1837), 114, 144, 164, 181; Journal of the Senate of the Tenth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at a Special Session, Begun and Held in Vandalia, July 10, 1837 (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1837), 40, 85, 118-19, 121, 145, 146.

2On July 20, 1837, the House of Representatives amended the bill by adding the name “Nathan Veach.”
Journal of the House of Representatives of the Tenth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at a Special Session of the General Assembly, Begun and Held in the Town of Vandalia, July 10, 1837 (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1837), 144.

3On July 20, the House of Representatives amended the bill by adding this section.

4On July 20, the House of Representatives amended the bill by adding this section.

5On July 20, the House of Representativesamended the bill by adding this section. It also added the title by adding the words “and for other purposes.”