118 LAWS RELATING TO AGRICULTURE. 



TOWNSHIP DITCHES. 



SEC. 4511. [Township trustees may establish ditches.] The 



trustees of any township may, whenever, in their opinion, the same will 

 be conducive to the public health, convenience or welfare, cause to be 

 established, located and constructed, as hereinafter provided, any ditch 

 within such township, and for that purpose may cross a railroad, turn- 

 pike road, or do any other thing necessary or proper to promote said 

 purpose. 



SEC. 4512. [Meaning of the words "ditch" and "according to 

 benefits" in this chapter.] The word "ditch" when used in this chap- 

 ter shall be held to include a drain or watercourse, and the petition for 

 any such improvement shall be held to include any side, lateral, spur or 

 branch ditch, drain or watercourse necessary to be constructed to secure 

 the object of the improvement, whether the same is mentioned therein 

 or not ; and this chapter shall extend to and include the straightening of 

 streams and watercourses. The words "according to the benefits" when 

 used in this chapter, in directing township trustees to assess land for 

 ditches and in directing engineers to report assessments for the same 

 shall not be held to authorize any assessments for benefits conferred by 

 nature, nor the right of easement of owners of superincumbent lands to 

 pass the waters therefrom through natural watercourses. 



SEC. 4513. [The trustees may buy blanks.] If the trustees of 

 any township have occasion to exercise the power conferred upon them 

 by this chapter, they shall authorize the clerk of such township to pur- 

 chase a sufficient number of printed blanks for all petitions, notices, cer- 

 tificates, statements and bonds, which are necessary to be filed or given, 

 and one ditch journal, to be paid for out of the township fund; but 

 nothing in this section shall be taken to prevent the use of written peti- 

 tions, bonds, certificates, notices or other papers provided for in this 

 chapter. 



SEC. 4514. [Petition for a ditch, and proceedings thereon.] Be- 

 fore the trustees take any action towards locating or establishing any ditch, 

 there shall. be filed with the township clerk a petition from one or more 

 persons owning lands adjacent to the line of the proposed ditch, setting 

 forth the necessity of the same, with a substatial description of the pro- 

 posed starting point, route, and terminus, and a bond with good and 

 sufficient sureties to the acceptance of the clerk, conditioned to pay all 

 expenses incurred if the trustees refuse to grant the prayer of the peti- 

 tion; and the township clerk shall give notice to the trustees of the 

 filing and pendency of the petition, and the trustees shall immediately 

 designate a time and place when and where they will meet to hear the 

 petition and complete their proceedings thereunder. 



SEC. 4514*7. I Joint township ditches; application; surveyor's re- 

 port. [ When a ditch or improvement is proposed, which will require 

 a location in more than one township, application shall be made to the 

 trustees of each of said townships, and the surveyor shall make a report 

 for each township. 



[Compensation and damages; appeals.] Application for compen- 

 sation and damages shall be made to the joint board of trustees when in 

 joint session, and appeals from the finding of the trustees when in joint 

 session, locating and establishing such ditch, and from the assessment 



