In force, Mar.[March] 2, 1839.
An act for the improvement of the Wabash river, and for other purposes.
1Duty of Commissioners of Public Works.
Proviso.
Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the Commissioners of the Board of Public Works shall cause the improvement of
the navigation of the Little Wabash river to be prosecuted as high up as the Cumberland road at Ewington, in Effingham county: Provided the Board of Public Works, shall deem it susceptible of advantageous improvement,2 and as much higher up as, in the opinion of the Board, the good of the State may require; the said improvement to be commenced as early as practicable.
Com’rs[Commissioners] to locate road.
Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That Hugh McDaniel, Robert Toler, and William Farmer, of Clay county, be, and they are hereby, appointed commissioners to view, mark, and locate a State road from Ezra Baker’s mills, on the Little Wabash river, in Edwards county, on the nearest and best route, to Maysville, in Clay county.
Time & place of meeting.
Road to be opened.
Sec. 3. Said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall meet at Maysville, on the first Monday in June next, and, after being duly sworn by some justice of
the peace of said county faithfully to discharge the duties herein required, shall proceed to perform the
same; and thereupon make report of their proceedings to the counties of Clay and Edwards, and Wayne, at the first meeting of their several commissioners’ courts thereafter; and the commissioners’ courts of said counties shall cause the said road be forthwith
opened and kept in repair as the State roads are.
Pay of Commissioners.
Sec. 4. Said commissioners shall receive a reasonable compensation for their services, which
shall be paid by each of the beforementioned counties, in proportion to the distance of the road and the time employed in each
county.
Bridges to be built in Clay county.
Sec. 5. The county commissioners of Clay county shall be authorized and required to build the following bridges in Clay county, to wit: A bridge across the Little Wabash, where the road leading from Maysville to Chicago crosses the same; also a bridge across Big Muddy, on the road leading from Mount Carmel to Louisville , in Clay county; also a bridge across Fox river, at or near John Matthew’s mills,
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in Clay county; and a bridge across Big Muddy, on the State road leading from Elijah Nelson’s, by the way of Louisville, to John Orender’s, in Clay county: Provided, in all cases, That said bridges shall be so constructed as not in any way to interfere with the
free navigation of either of the aforesaid streams or water-courses.
Letting of bridges.
Sec. 6. Said commissioners shall let out the building of said bridges to the lowest bidder,
by giving sufficient previous notice at what time and place such letting shall take
place; and take from the contractor a good and sufficient bond for the faithful construction
of said bridges.
Expenses of bridges.
Sec. 7. Said commissioners shall pay the expenses of the constructing said bridges out of
any moneys in the treasury of said county not otherwise appropriated.3
Approved, March 2, 1839.
1On February 20, 1839, Peter Green introduced HB 372 in the House. On March 1, following the addition of sundry amendments by a select committee,
the House passed the bill, and referred it to the Senate. On March 2, following the insertion of additional language in the first section,
the Senate passed the bill. Later that day, the House concurred with the Senate’s additional language. Still later that same day, theCouncil of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Journal of the House of Representatives, at the First Session of the Tenth General
Assembly, of the State of Illinois (Vandalia, IL: William Waters, 1836), 461, 544, 567, 579, 601, 604, 607; Journal of the Senate, at the First Session of the Tenth General Assembly, of the
State of Illinois (Vandalia, IL: William Waters, 1836), 504, 508.
3In a speech given on February 5, 1839, Peter Green asserted that his constituents in Clay County supported this bill because they improved improving the Little Wabash over expanding the local railroad.
Illinois State Journal, 15 March 1839, 2:6-7.
Printed Document, 2 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Eleventh General Assembly (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1839), 288-89, GA Session: 11-1,