Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Feb.[February] 1, 1840.

AN ACT to establish a ferry across Illinois river.
1

Location of ferry.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That William L. May, his heirs and assigns, be, and they are hereby authorized to establish a ferry at the outlet of lake Peoria, and to run the same from both sides of said outlet on the Illinois river, either from any public highway or from any lands or lots which are or may be owned by them.2

Sec. 2. The said William L. May, his heirs and assigns, shall, at all times keep a sufficient number of boats, hands, oars and poles, to afford at all times a safe and speedy transportation of all travellers and other persons who may desire to cross said river with their horses, wagons, carriages, and other property; and the said ferry shall at all times be subject to all the rules and regulations, which now are or may hereafter be provided by law, to regulate ferries in this State.

Tolls

Sec. 3. In consideration of the obligations hereinafter imposed, the said William L. May, his heirs and assigns, shall have the right of ferrying and receiving tolls therefor, at the said outlet, for and during the term of fifteen years from the first of February, 1840.

Sec. 4. The said William L. May, his heirs and assigns, shall be authorized to receive the same tolls as are now allowed by the county commissioners court of Peoria county, at the ferry established at the said outlet of lake Peoria.

Persons passing free of toll

Sec. 5. The said William L. May, his heirs and assigns, shall at all times during the existence of the privilege hereby

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granted, afford a free passage over said ferry, to all citizens of what is now Tazewell county, together with their horses, carriages, wagons and other property, when going to or returning from the town of Peoria, for the purposes of trade with any of the inhabitants thereof, or for the purpose of consulting or employing any physician or lawyer of said town of Peoria.

Penalty for taking tolls of citizens of Tazewell

Sec. 6. If the said William L. May, his heirs and assigns, shall at any time after the provisions of this act takes effect, demand or receive any toll or ferriage, from any citizen of Tazewell county who may desire to cross at said ferry, for the purposes of trading or transacting business as aforesaid, and who shall demand his exemption as aforesaid, he or they shall forfeit for every such offence to every such person, the sum of five dollars, to be recovered with costs before any justice of the peace by action of debt.

Privileges may be revoked

Sec. 7. The license and privilege hereby granted, shall be liable to be revoked by information in the nature of a quo warranto, to be filed in the circuit courts either of Tazewell or Peoria counties, if at any time hereafter the said William L. May, his heirs and assigns, shall fail to keep at said ferry a sufficient number of boats, oars, poles, and hands, to afford a passage to all persons with their property, who may desire to cross said ferry with safety and reasonable speed, or if at any time he or they shall knowingly and wilfully fail or neglect to comply with any of the provisions of this act.

$50 to Peoria county

$50 town of Peoria

Sec. 8. The said William L. May, his heirs and assigns, shall annually on the first day of September, in each and every year, pay into the county treasury of the county of Peoria, the sum of fifty dollars for the use of said county, and shall at the same time in each year, pay a like sum of fifty dollars into the treasury of the town of Peoria, to be expended under the direction of the Trustees of said town in improving so much of the State road leading from Peoria to Springfield, as lies between the Illinois river and the top of the bluff; and if at any time the said May, his heirs and assigns, shall fail to pay the above amounts for the space of one month after the same shall become due, the license hereby granted may be revoked as aforesaid.

Sec. 9. If any person or persons shall, by falsely representing themselves to be citizens of Tazewell county, and going to Peoria for the purposes of trade or the transaction of business as aforesaid, procure a free passage across said river at the ferry aforesaid, every such person shall forfeit and pay to the said William L. May, his heirs and assigns, the sum of five dollars for every such offence, to be recovered by action of debt in the name of the party aggrieved, before any justice of the peace having jurisdiction therein.

Proviso.

Sec. 10. The provisions of this act shall not take effect unless the said William L. May shall, on or before the first day of April, 1840, file in the office of the clerk of the coun-

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ty commissioners’ court of Peoria county, a bond with one or more securities, to be approved by said clerk in the penal sum of one thousand dollars, payable to the county aforesaid, conditioned to perform all the duties required by this act.

No ferry shall be established at outlet

Sec. 11. The county commissioners’ courts of the counties of Peoria and Tazewell, is (are) hereby inhibited from granting any license, to keep a ferry at the said outlet of lake Peoria, during the existence of this grant, but nothing in this act shall be construed to interfere or prejudice any rights already obtained.

Part of road from Peoria to Springfield

Sec. 12. The trustees of the town of Peoria are hereby authorized to expend, under their direction, the amount required by this act to be paid into the Treasury of said town by the said William L. May , upon so much of the State road leading from Peoria to Springfield, as lies between the river and the top of the bluff; also to cause to be expended any further sum or sums of money that they may think proper to expend from time to time, upon that part of the said road.

$50 to be expended by W. L. May

Sec. 13. In addition to the amount required to be paid by the said William L. May, by the provisions of the eighth section of this act, he shall cause to be expended upon that part of the Springfield and Peoria road, lying between the Illinois river and the top of the bluff, the sum of fifty dollars annually, for which he is to file his vouchers for the actual expenditure, with the board of trustees of the town of Peoria, on or before the first Monday in September, in each year.

Sec. repealed

Sec. 14. That so much of the eleventh section of the act entitled “An act to extend the corporate powers of the town of Pekin, approved February 23, 1839,” as gives the county commissioners’ court of Peoria county the right to fix and regulate the rates of ferriage over the Illinois river at said town, be and the same is hereby repealed.

Approved, February 1, 1840.

1On December 30, 1839, Senator John Hamlin presented a petition, and the Senate referred the petition to a select committee. On January 18, 1840, the Senate laid the bill on the table. On January 22, the Senate amended and passed the bill. On January 25, the House of Representatives referred the bill to a select committee. On January 28, the select committee reported the bill favorably with an amendment, and the House passed the amended bill. On January 25, the Senate concurred in the House’s amended version of the bill. On February 1, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1839. 11th G. A., special sess., 233, 253, 264, 312; Illinois Senate Journal. 1839. 11th G. A., special sess., 85, 92, 131-32, 165, 191, 219-20, 230, 240-41.

2Providing passage over the Illinois River at the southwestern end of Peoria Lake, where the river channel narrows and the town of Peoria developed, was a profitable business after an influx of settlers to the area in the mid-1830s. Either a ferry or a bridge could reap substantial profits, and competing interests led to litigation and legislation. In 1835, the Illinois General Assembly incorporated the Peoria Bridge Company, and allowed them four years to build a bridge. Two years later, the General Assembly authorized the town of Peoria to obtain a loan to build the bridge and extended the deadline for completion by two years. Also in 1835, the Peoria County Commissioners’ Court granted Henry W. Cleveland a license to operate the first steam ferry across the Illinois River at Peoria. Aquila Wren purchased the ferry in 1837, but Robert Moore and James Moore also obtained a license to run a ferry there. Through this act, the Illinois General Assembly gave William L. May, who had purchased the Bigelow and Underhill ferry, license to operate a ferry at Peoria for fifteen years. In 1841, the General Assembly reissued May’s license, giving him “sole” right to operate a ferry at that point and forbidding the county commissioners’ courts of Peoria and Tazewell counties from granting any more licenses to competing ferries. May had to sue several rivals in the early 1840s to protect his ferriage rights. In 1845, the General Assembly gave William L. May and his associates a charter to build a bridge over the Illinois River at Peoria. Workers completed construction of the bridge in 1848, but ice carried it away in the spring of 1849. The corporation rebuilt the bridge, and it reopened in October 1849.
Newton Bateman, Paul Selby, and David McCulloch, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria County, 2 vols. (Chicago: Munsell Publishing Company, 1902), 2:265-66; An Act to Incorporate the Peoria Bridge Company (1835); An Act to Amend an Act, entitled "An Act to Extend the Corporate Powers of the Town of Peoria," Approved February 21, 1837 (1837); An Act to Establish a Ferry across the Illinois River (1841); Moore & Beach v. May (1841), May v. Moore et al. (1842), May v. Greene & Loose (1844), Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009); “An Act to authorize the construction of a toll bridge across the Illinois river,” 3 March 1845, Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Fourteenth General Assembly, at Their Regular Session (1845), 237-38.