Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Feb.[February] 26, 1841.

An ACT to locate a State road in Fulton county.
1

Com’rs[Commissioners] to locate road.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That John M’Can, James Combs and Jonas Rawalt, of Fulton county, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view, mark and locate a State road from Utica to Richard Tompkins’ ware house, near the mouth of Copperas creek, on the Illinois river, on fractional south-east quarter of section twenty-four, township six north, range five east.2

Time & place of meeting.

Sec. 2. The said commissioners shall meet in the town of Utica, on the first Monday in March next, or some day thereafter; and, after being duly sworn by some justice of the peace well and truly to perform the duties above required, shall proceed to survey, mark and locate said road, five rods wide, as required by this act.

Road to be opened and kept in repair.

Sec. 3. The said road, when laid out as aforesaid, shall be deemed and considered a State road3; and the county commissioners’ court shall cause it to be opened and kept in repair as other State roads are.

Compensat’n.[Compensation]

Sec. 4. The commissioners appointed under the provisions of this act, shall receive a just and fair compensation for the time they are necessarily employed; and they are hereby authorized and empowered to employ a surveyor and chain-carriers, who shall receive a fair compensation for their services, to he paid out of the county treasury.

Sec 5. This act to be in force and take effect from and after its passage.

Approved, February 26, 1841.

1Lewis W. Ross introduced HB 266 in the House of Representatives on February 15, 1841. The House passed the bill on February 20. The Senate concurred on February 25. On February 26, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 405, 409, 445, 453, 508, 528, 530, 550; Illinois Senate Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 360-61, 405.

2Located in the center of Fulton County. The proposed road was to run west from the east border of the county to the center of the county.

3State roads were those public roads established or designated by the General Assembly and usually crossed county lines. Only the General Assembly could establish, alter, or abandon state roads, until 1840 and 1841, when the General Assembly gave counties the authority to alter or to abandon state roads upon petition by a majority of voters in the area of the change.
An Act concerning Public Roads, sec. 9; An Act Authorizing Commissioners’ Courts to Alter, Change, and Relocate State Roads; An Act concerning Public Roads.