PIONEER HUNTERS OF THE KANK.AK.Et 



in good iaith but the ditch makers did not fulfill 

 their part of the agreement. In 1854 the State 

 Authorities ordered a swamp land ditch com- 

 missioner to be appointed and Aaron Lytle, of 

 Valparaiso, Ind,, was appointed to this position 

 and was the first ditch commissioner for this 

 district. After serving about a year and a half 

 he resigned and Ezriah Freeman was appointed 

 his successor. Commissioner Lytle had a few 

 ditches surveyed out and dug. They were sold 

 out in sections and half sections just as much as 

 a contractor thought he could construct. State 

 Ditch No, 1 on the north side of the river was 

 the first ditch dug and an Irishman by the name 

 of AcDugal contracted for the first two mile sec- 

 tions and John Broady of Three Rivers, /Michi- 

 gan, bought the third and half of the fourth sec- 

 tions one and a half miles. State Ditch No. 2 

 was run farther east beginning at the river and 

 running up old Sandy Hook to where it inter- 

 sected with Ditch No. 1 near an island called 

 Bridge Island. I might explain here why it de- 



183 



