Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Mar.[March] 4, 1839.

AN ACT to authorize Hardin Porter and Eli Gholson to build a mill-dam, and for other purposes.
1

Mill-dam.

Proviso.

Further proviso. Damages.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Hardin Porter andEli Gholson , be, and they are hereby, authorized to construct a mill-dam across the North fork of the Saline, on section fifteen, in township seven south, range seven, east of the third principal meridian:2 Provided, That the said Porter and

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Gholson shall own the lands on both sides of the stream where said dam shall be constructed: And provided, further, That should any individual sustain damages by the overflowing of the banks of said stream, occasioned by the construction of said dam, the saidPorter and Gholson shall be liable for the same.

Com’rs[Commissioners] of Hamilton co. may borrow money.

Amount.

Sec. 2. That the county commissioners’ court of Hamilton county is hereby authorized to borrow, of her part of the two hundred thousand dollars appropriated, by the “Act to establish and maintain a general system of internal improvement,” to the counties through which no railroad is constructed by the State, the sum of two thousand dollars, for the purpose of building a court house at the county seat3 of said county, to be refunded out of the county treasury when needed; and and when so refunded, in part or in whole, to be applied to the purposes for which it was intended by the act by which it was appropriated.4

Approved, March 4, 1839.

1On January 29, 1839, Joseph Naper introduced HB 239, originally titled “A Bill to Amend the Act relative to Criminal Jurisprudence,” in the House of Representatives. On February 18, the House referred the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary. The Committee on the Judiciary reported back the bill on February 23, recommending its rejection. The House referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 27 with an amendment, in which the House concurred. On March 1, the House passed the bill as amended, amending the title so as to read, “A Bill to Authorize Hardin Porter and Eli Gholson to Build a Mill-Dam, and for Other Purposes.” On March 2, the Senate passed the bill without amendment. On that same day, theCouncil of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 307, 431, 488, 536, 567, 579, 601, 607; Illinois Senate Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 505.

2Located in the southeast portion of Hamilton County.

3McLeansboro was the county seat of Hamilton County.

4Section eighteen, sub-section fifteen, of the internal improvement act appropriated $200,000 to counties through which no railroad or canal was provided at the expense of the State. This money was to be distributed proportionally based on the most recent census. The money was to be used to improve roads, build bridges, and construct other necessary public works. By December 1838, the fund commissioners had distributed $145,510 to sixteen counties. There appears to be some discrepancy on the amount distributed. Krenkel and the Sangamo Journal cite the total as $144,700, but a tabulation of the figures printed in the Sangamo Journal results in $145,510. Hamilton County had received $7,027.50. Between 1840 and 1843, Hamilton County constructed a new brick courthouse at a cost of $4,500.
John H. Krenkel, Illinois Internal Improvements 1818-1848 (Cedar Rapids, IA: Torch, 1958), 83-84; Sangamo Journal 12 January 1839, 2:1; Hamilton County Illinois: Celebrating 175 Years (Paducah, KY: Turner, 1996), 12.