Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 3.djvu/644



. And be it further enacted, That the form of the bond aforesaid shall be prescribed, and the same shall be discharged, and all penalties and forfeitures, incurred under this act, shall be sued for, recovered, distributed, and accounted for, and the same may be mitigated, or remitted, in the manner, and according to the provisions, of the.

, May 15, 1820.

Whereas, by the continuation of the Cumberland road from Wheeling in the state of Virginia, through the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, the lands of the United States may become more valuable—

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to appoint three impartial and judicious persons, not being citizens of any of the states aforesaid, to be commissioners, and, in case of the death or resignation of any of them, to appoint other and like persons in their place, who shall have power carefully to examine the country, between Wheeling, in the state of Virginia, and a point on the left bank of the Mississippi river, to be chosen by said commissioners, between St. Louis and the mouth of the Illinois river, and to lay out a road from Wheeling aforesaid, to the point so to be chosen on the left bank of the river Mississippi; the said road to be on a straight line, or as nearly so as, having a due regard to the condition and situation of the ground and water-courses over which the same shall be laid out, shall be deemed expedient and practicable. And said commissioners shall have power to employ able surveyors, chain-bearers, and other necessary assistants, in laying out said road; and so much of the lands of the United States as may be included within the same, shall be, and is hereby, reserved and excepted from the sales of the public lands. The said road to be eighty feet wide, and designated by marked trees, stakes, or other conspicuous monuments, at the distance of every quarter of a mile, and at every angle of deviation from a straight line. And the said commissioners shall cause to be made, and delivered to the President of the United States, an accurate plan of said road, so laid out by them as aforesaid, with a written report of their proceedings, describing therein the state lines crossed, and the marks, monuments, courses, and distances, by which the said road shall be designated; describing also, the water-courses, and the nature and quality of the ground over which the same shall be laid out; they shall, moreover, divide said road into sections of not more than ten, nor less than five, miles long, noticing the materials that may be used in making, and giving an estimate of the expense of making, each section of the road aforesaid.

. And be it further enacted, That the commissioners, surveyors, chain-bearers, and other necessary assistants, to be appointed in pursuance of this act, shall severally take an oath, or affirmation, faithfully and diligently to perform their respective duties, and shall receive, in full compensation for their services and expenses, each commissioner six dollars, each surveyor three dollars, and each other necessary assistant one dollar, for each day in which they shall be necessarily employed in the service aforesaid: Provided always, and it is hereby enacted and declared, That nothing in this act contained, or that shall be done in pursuance thereof, shall be deemed or construed to imply any obligation on the party of the United States to make, or to defray the expense of making, the road hereby authorized to be laid out, or of any part thereof.