Arts. 2, 3 Laws Repealed; When to Take Effect. §§ 25, 26 if unable to agree with the owners of any real property required for the purpose of extending, continuing or connecting such roads, streets, avenues or highways, for the purchase thereof, may acquire title thereto by condemnation in the manner prescribed by law; provided such corporation has the consents of the owners of not less than one-half of all of the land which adjoins or abuts upon, or which will adjoin or abut upon, such roads, streets, avenues or highways, or their extensions, continuations or connections, when completed; and such corporation may lay out and establish such roads, streets, avenues or highways, and the extensions, continuations or connections thereof, and may construct drains or sewers, and such bridges or culverts as may be necessary to maintain the grades of, or for the extension, continuation or connection of, the roads, streets, avenues or highways, so laid out; and may connect such roads, streets, avenues or highways, with or across roads, streets, avenues or hignways, belonging to any other corporation or person, but may not disturb the established grades thereof. All lands so taken by condemnation shall be deemed to be acquired for a public use. Formerly L. 1892, ch. 691, § 17, as added by L. 1900, ch. 518, § 1. ARTICLE 3 Laws Repealed; When to Take Effect 26. When to take effect. § 25. Laws repealed. Of the laws enumerated in the schedule hereto annexed, that portion specified in the last column is hereby repealed. [New.] § 26. When to take effect. This chapter shall take effect immediately. CANAL LAW L. 1909, Ch. 13. "AN ACT relating to canals, constituting chapter five of the Consolidated Laws." (In effect February 17, 1909.) CHAPTER 5 OF THE CONSOLIDATED LAWS [Formerly L. 1894, Ch. 338, being chapter 13 of the General Laws.] Article 1. Short title (§ 1). 2. State canals (§§ 2-5). 3. Canal board (§§ 15-21). 4. Superintendent of public works (§§ 30-48). 5. State engineer; department of canals (§§ 60–69). 6. Appropriation of lands and water (§§ 80-88). 7. Surplus water (§§ 100-111). 8. Highways and bridges (§§ 120-128). 9. Contracts (§§ 140-154). 10. Navigation (§§ 170-192). 11. Laws repealed; when to take effect (§§ 200, 201). Section 1. Short title. ARTICLE 1 Short Title § 1. Short title. This chapter shall be known as the " Canal Law." Formerly L. 1894, ch. 338, § 1. ARTICLE 2 State Canals Section 2. Designation of canals. 3. State dam at Waterloo. 4. Maps and field-notes. 5. Copies of maps and field-notes in county clerk's office. § 2. Designation of canals. This chapter applies to the following canals: 1. The Erie canal, connecting the waters of Lake Erie with those of the Hudson river. Explanation. For location and disposition of former sections of the Canal Law see L. 1894, Ch. 338, in "Consolidated Schedule of Repeals," Vol. 7. 88 3-5 State Canals. Art. 2 2. The Champlain canal, connecting the waters of Lake Champlain with those of the Hudson river. 3. The Cayuga and Seneca canal, commencing at Geneva and terminating near Montezuma, connecting the waters of Seneca lake with the Erie canal. 4. The Oswego canal, commencing at Syracuse and terminating at Oswego. 5. The Black River canal and Erie canal feeder, extending from the foot of the high falls in the Black river, in the county of Lewis, to the Erie canal at Rome, with a navigable feeder from the Black river to the summit level near the village of Boonville. The term "canal," as used in this chapter, includes all the side cuts, feeders and other works belonging to the state connected therewith. Formerly L. 1894, ch. 338, § 2. § 3. State dam at Waterloo. The superintendent of public works is authorized to maintain a state dam at Waterloo, at a height not exceeding the height of the original state dam at that place, but so as not to raise the waters of Seneca lake above the natural height of the waters of the lake, but no claim shall be made or allowed for any damages to any property by reason of raising such dam to its original height. Formerly L. 1894, ch. 338, § 3. § 4. Maps and field-notes. There shall be kept on file in the office of the state engineer complete manuscript maps and field-notes of every canal now or hereafter to be built and of all the lands belonging to the state adjacent thereto or connected therewith, in which the boundaries of every parcel of land to which the state shall have a separate title shall be designated, and the names of the former owners and the date of each title entered. The expense of all such maps and field-notes shall be paid out of the appropriations made for the support and maintenance of the canals. All such maps and field-notes approved by the canal board or superintendent of public works or certified by such board or superintendent or by the state engineer to be correct, shall be presumptive evidence of the truth of the facts therein stated and of the ownership by the state of the lands therein described. Formerly L. 1894, ch. 338, § 4. § 5. Copies of maps and field-notes in county clerk's office. A copy of every map and of all field-books and notes so filed or of such part thereof as relates to the canal lands in any county, certified by the state engineer to be a correct copy Arts. 2, 3 Canal Board. § 15 thereof, shall be filed in the clerk's office of such county, and shall be evidence with like force and effect as the original maps and field-notes of which it is a copy. Transcripts of a part of any such map or field-notes, certified by the officer having the custody of the original or certified copies from which they are made, to be correct copies thereof, shall be evidence as to the parts contained in such transcripts, with the same force and effect as if the originals were produced. Formerly L. 1894, ch. 338, § 5. ARTICLE 3 Canal Board Section 15. General powers. 16. Power to permit erections for commercial or manu- 17. Meetings and publication of minutes of board. 19. Frauds to be investigated. 20. Witnesses on investigation; expenses. § 15. General powers. The canal board may: 1. Make, from time to time, rules and regulations, not inconsistent with law, for the transaction of the business of the board, the discharge of its duties, and the conduct of hearings before it. 2. Determine the boundaries of the three divisions of the canals of the state, and change such boundaries when deemed expedient. 3. Determine whether any lands, taken for the purposes of the canals, may be sold beneficially to the state. 4. Determine whether lands, taken for the purposes of the canals, bave been abandoned. 5. Investigate all matters and transactions connected with or pertaining to the canals of the state, and take proofs in regard to any matter pending before the board or which it is authorized to examine or investigate. 6. Appoint one or more members of the board a committee to hear any matter pending before it and take proofs in regard thereto and report thereon to the board, with the proofs taken and his or their opinion thereon. Such members shall have the same powers with respect to such hearing as the board would have had if it had been before such board. 7. Grant a rehearing in any case where they are authorized to adjudicate, when, in their judgment, justice may require it, if |