Whereas there exist great commerce and trade between the people of this State and the city of St. Louis, and as there is at all times, and particularly in the fall season of the year, an immense travel to the State of Missouri, and as this immense commerce and trade has to cross the Mississippi river at St. Louis by means of one ferry, in consequence of which the business is so great at said ferry that it is inconvenient and injurious to the people of this State in the necessary transaction of their business, inasmuch as they frequently are detained several hours in waiting to cross: And whereas the present company owning said ferry are citizens of St. Louis, and, having no competition, said ferry has become a complete monopoly in the hands of non-residents, to the great injury of the people of this State: Therefore,

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That William G. Brown, John D. Hughes, James Anderson, William Penn, andCharles Sergeant, of St Clair county, be, and they are hereby, appointed commissioners and are required, after having taken an oath faithfully to execute and discharge the duties imposed on them by this act, to examine the ground and locate a road and ferry landing between Cahokia creek and the Mississippi river, opposite St. Louis; and said road and ferry landing shall be located three hundred feet wide, on the most eligible ground for said purpose, doing as little damage as possible to any buildings or improvements on said ground; and said road and ferry landing, when so located, and the report of said commissioners filed in the office of the clerk of the county commissioners’ court of St. Clair county, shall be and remain a public highway forever.

Sec. 2. The county commissioners’ court of said county of St. Clair be, and the same are hereby, authorized and empowered to cause said land on which said road and ferry landing shall have been so located according to law, to be condemned, and to pay to the legal owner or owners of said land the damages thereby sustained by said owner or owners; and after said land is so condemned, and the damages paid out of the funds of said county, the said county commissioners’ court shall have power, by their agents or otherwise, to enter upon said land, so condemned, and establish a ferry across the Mississippi river: and said county commissioners’ court may either carry on said ferry for the county itself, or it may lease the same, for any term not exceeding five years at any one time, to any person or persons, or corporations, on such terms as said court may deem reasonable, they, the said court, having, as in other cases, the power to regulate the tolls of said ferry: Provided, That the county of St. Clair shall cause to be paid into the State treasury, at the end of each year, thirty per cent. on

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all the profits arising from said ferry established under this act, after deducting the expenses for carrying on and conducting the same; and every omission of said county faithfully and punctually to pay over said thirty per cent. of such profits shall work a complete forfeiture of all the rights herein vested; and the State shall have power to resume and take possession of the same as by due course of law in similar cases.

Sec. 3. That for the purpose of compensating the legal owner or owners for the land thus appropriated for public use, it shall be the duty of the commissioners’ court of St. Clair county to cause the sheriff of said county to summon twelve good and lawful men, who shall be of kin to neither of the legal owners of said land, wh0, being by said sheriff duly sworn to inquire of the damages, shall, in view of the land, certify the amount of damages which such owner or owners may sustain by reason of the location of the road and ferry landing as aforesaid; which certificate or verdict shall be signed by said jury, and shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the county commissioners’ court aforesaid. The said certificate or verdict shall contain the metes and bounds of the land taken and appropriated for the road and landing as aforesaid; and if either the owners of said land, or the county commissioners of said county of St. Clair, shall be dissatisfied with such assessment of the value of the land found by the jury as aforesaid, either of them may appeal to the circuit court of the county of St. Clair; and, upon notice to the said sheriff of such intention to make such appeal, he shall forthwith file, in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of said county, all the proceedings had before him in such assessment; and, thereupon, the said court shall, at its first term thereafter, proceed to make a new assessment by a jury in a summary manner, adopting such proceedings as shall be necessary therefor; which shall be final and conclusive between the parties.

Approved, March 2, 1839.2