Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That there shall be, and there is, hereby, granted to the inhabitants of the several townships in this State, the right of all ferry privileges, in all cases where the school land belonging to the inhabitants of such township embraces a stream or water-course on either side thereof, over which, from the establishment of any public

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road, it may be necessary to establish any ferry: Provided, That if the school land embraces only one side of such stream, so situated as aforesaid, the said inhabitants of the townships, respectively, shall only have the one-half of such ferry privileges.

Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of the school commissioner of each county, respectively, on the first Monday in June, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine, and every two years thereafter, to lease out, to the highest and best bidder, all such ferries as may be so situated on the sixteenth section as aforesaid, and execute a lease therefor, and take bond in such sum and with such security as he may deem proper; which lease and bond shall be recorded in the recorder’s office of the county in which the ferry may be; from the date of which recording, the lessee of any such ferry privilege shall be considered as in possession, and entitled to the use of the ferry privileges since granted, with the right to take and receive such toll as the county commissioners’ courts may prescribe.

Sec. 3. The said school commissioner shall collect, annually, the amount of any rent due and owning to the township to which such ferry or ferries may belong, and keep and pay and dispose of the same in the same manner as the interest of other township funds are kept, paid out, and disposed of.

Sec. 4. If any school land, to which there may attach any ferry privileges under the provisions of this act, shall be situated partly in one county and partly in another, then, and in such case, it shall be the duty of the school commissioner of that county in which the largest portion of such school land may be situated to lease out the same as herein before provided, and to dispose of the same as before directed.

Sec. 5. Whenever any school lands shall not be situated in the township to whose inhabitants it belongs, and such township shall lie partly in one county and partly in another, the duty of leasing or otherwise disposing of such school land shall devolve upon the school commissioner of the county containing the greater number of legal voters of such township.

Sec. 6. It shall be the duty of the school commissioner whose duty it may be, under the provisions of this act, to lease any ferry privileges, to advertise the same, at least four weeks previous to the regular day of leasing, as herein before mentioned, by advertisement, in some public newspaper, or by written advertisements, posted up in four of the most public places in their counties, respectively, of the time and place of such leasing; and the leasing of all such ferries as are herein authorized shall always take place at the county seats of the counties, respectively, in which such ferries may be situated.

Sec. 7. The inhabitants of any township may cause a por-

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tion of their school lands to be leased, and another portion of said lands to be sold, in the mode prescribed by law, if they shall deem the same expedient.

Sec. 8. Nothing in this act shall be so construed as to prohibit the people of any townships from causing the sale of any portion of their school lands which, by the law now in force, are subject to be sold.

Sec. 9. All necessary expenses incurred by the school commissioner, in advertising and leasing or selling any school lands, as well as his compensation for his services in the premises, shall be paid, out of the rents or interest of such school lands, under the direction of the county commissioners’ court, if the township owning such school land is not incorporated, and under the direction of the trustees of schools of the township, if the same is incorporated.2

Approved, February 16, 1839.