DRAINAGE DISTRICT ASSESSMENTS. 51 
The probable amount of damages which will be inflicted must be 
determined before a district can be established. To establish a dis- 
trict it is necessary to show that the total benefits will exceed the 
total costs, and as damages to the property are a part of the a 
at times a considerable part, they should be determined at the earli- 
est possible moment, certainly before final order of assessment is 
made. 
When the amount of damages has been agreed upon by all parties 
or fixed by the courts, no further damages arising from the same 
work can be secured unless negligence be shown. Thus the fact that 
trees were so felled in constructing a drain as to damage the owner's 
remaining land does not give him a right of action for such dam- 
ages after his damages have been awarded unless the work was 
negligently done. (Beaufort County Lumber Co. v. Drainage Com- 
missioners' 94 S. E. ±o~). But it was decided in Nicholson v. Inlet 
Swamp Drainage District. 117 X. E. 445, that a drainage district, 
whose plans for ditch enlargement allowed insufficient slope to pre- 
vent caving in of the banks, was liable for material deposited on 
plaintiff's land by an independent contractor while dredging the 
caved-in material from the ditch. In Beschulye v. Elkhorn River 
Drainage District 167 X. W. 730, it was held that the grantor of a 
right of way. releasing the district from all damages from the use 
of lands, may recover damages caused by carelessness or negligence in 
constructing the improvement, as the release relates only to damages 
from proper construction. 
In regard to damages arising after the Improvement is completed, 
and caused by extraordinary storms or by defects in the drainage 
system, the Illinois Supreme Court has held in Thompson v. Hughes. 
121 X. E. 387 (quoting from the syllabus) : 
If drains were constructed properly, with aid of experience'! engineers, and 
were such as reasonably prudent men would have built, and no defects had 
come to the commissioners* knowledge, or could have been discovered by reason- 
able diligence, they were not liable to a property owner for damage from over- 
flow. 
The remedy under some statutes for insufficient drainage is found 
not in damages but by compelling the commissioners to provide suf- 
ficient drainage. This is shown by the decision in the case of Stod- 
dard v. Keefe et al. (No. 11089. Supreme Court of Illinois. April 
19. 1917), 116 X. E. 193. where the court said in part : 
We have repeatedly held that where the landowners of a district have been 
assessed and taxed for the construction of drains and ditches for their lands 
and the ditches or drains as constructed have proven inadequate for the pur- 
pose for which they were intended, the landowners have a right to require 
the commissioners to adopt and construct a system of drainage which will 
provide main outlets of ample capacity to take care of the waters of the dis- 
trict ; also, if the system of drainage adopted is not of sufficient capacity to 
afford proper drainage for all the lands of the district, that the commis- 
sioners may be compelled, by mandamus, to deepen and widen the outlet or 
otherwise improve the same so ;i s t<> afford adequate drainage for the lands of 
the district if it can be done at a cost not exceeding the b ruing 1 
the lands in the district. 
METHODS OF MAKING ASSESSMENTS. 
Extensive field investigations which have bees carried on for some 
time by the Bureau of Public Roads show that the methods actually 
used in determining assessments may be divided into three general 
