Seventy-Thikd Annual Kepoet 1181 



benefits of drainage have been considered to be so largely of a 

 private character as to invoke this limitation. Especially is this 

 true when such wet land is owned by j)rivate iiidividnals. This 

 is a very different case than if snch wet land were owned by tlie 

 state so that the state woidd 1)e improving its own property from 

 which it might later get returns bv sale as in the case of land im- 

 proved by irrigation under the Xational Keclamation Act. 



Existing legal machinery for drainage. In 1909, the state 

 legislature in recodifying the laws of the state passed tlie drainage 

 law (Consolidated Laws, Chap. 15, 1909) embodying the essential 

 provisions of all preceding laws relative thereto, so far as seemed 

 necessary. Certain sections of this law were amended in 1910 

 (Chap. 624, 1910), and there was established the primary legal 

 machinery of the state for drainage improvement, either for 

 benefit of the public health or for agricultural improvement or 

 both. 



The essential provisions of this law are as follows : 



1. Any person or corporation, public or private, owning or affected by any 

 wet land may present a veritied petition to the county court, or. in case of 

 land lying in two or more counties the petition is presented to the supreme 

 court. Tliis petition requests the appointment of a drainage commission of 

 three men to make a preliminary investigation of the proi)osition to drain 

 the wet land in question. 



2. If the report of the commission is favorable, the court directs the com- 

 mission to proceed to have the necessary surveys made and the" construction 

 carried out under autliority of the commission and its advisers. 



3. The commission may permit the petitioners to carry out tlie construc- 

 tion at their own expense, subject to the approval of commission. 



4. The commission is authorized to secure easements for drainage channel 

 or other purposes. 



5. In case the commission cannot agree with any person as to the damages 

 or compensation for such easement, they may acquire the same by condemna- 

 tion proceedings. 



6. All easements must be secured and paid for before any construction is 

 begun and for this purpose and for other exjjenses tlie commission is autlior- 

 ized to borrow mone}-. 



7. The cost of the improvement is assessed by the commission against tlie 

 land benefited in proportion to such benefit, either by direct drainage or for 

 purposes of outlet of lateral drains. 



8. Any person may appeal to tlie courts if the assessment against his land 

 is unsatisfactory. 



9. W'lien finally estal»lished, such assessment is rcj)orted to tlie county clei-k 

 and is collectil)le as taxes in from one to thirty annual installincnts, according 

 to the arrangement of the commission. But any person assessed may pay 

 his assessment in a shorter time. 



10. All survey maps, data and a full statement of receipts and expendi- 

 tures by the commission are rccpiired to be tiled with the county clerk. 



The provisions of this law apply to enlargement, straightening 

 or clearing any natural stream, the lowering of any culvert, or 



