24-454. Lands in abandoned watercourse; sale; appraisement.
24-454
24-454. Lands in abandoned watercourse; sale; appraisement.Whenever the channel or any part of the channel of any naturalwatercourse shall be changed or altered by the establishment of a newchannel or otherwise, so that any lands situated between the banks of suchwatercourse at highwater mark, the title to which is vested in the state ofKansas, shall be abandoned or no longer used for a channel, the title tosuch lands so abandoned for use of a channel shall immediately vest in thedrainage district in which the same are situated, and such drainagedistrict may sell, convey and give good title thereto by a deed signed bythe president of the board of directors of the district and attested by itsseal, and such deed, when acknowledged by such president as the act of saiddistrict, may be recorded as other deeds except no such saleshall be made until after such lands shall have been appraised, either as awhole or in such tracts as the same may be subdivided into by the board ofdirectors, by three freeholders of the district, and that no sale of suchlands or any part thereof shall be made for less than three-fourths of suchappraised value thereof.
Upon application in writing by the board of directors to the judge ofthe district court of the county, such judgeshall, by certificate in writing signed by him or her, appoint three appraisersfor the purpose aforesaid, who shall each take and subscribe an oath tofairly and impartially appraise the lands to be designated and described inthe certificate of appointment, and such appraisers shall thereupon viewand as soon as practicable file a written appraisement of such lands withthe clerk of the drainage district. The said application, certificate ofappointment and appraisement shall be recorded in the office of theregister of deeds of the county and afterwards kept on file in the officeof the clerk of the district. For good cause shown, the judge appointingsuch appraisers may set aside any appraisement and order a new appraisementto be made, and may discharge one or more of the appraisers and appointothers, but no second appraisement shall be made until the prior one shallhave been set aside by the judge who appointed the appraisers, forsufficient reasons to him or her shown.
History: L. 1905, ch. 215, § 54; R.S. 1923, 24-454; L. 1976, ch.145, § 137; Jan. 10, 1977.