is where two only are concerned.
The Hickory Creek ditch now in progress in Bureau and Henry counties is
thirteen miles long, has a district of about 15,000 acres, owned by over
seventy-five persons. This combined drainage partakes of the nature of
public works. For this class the constitution has been twice amended,
and many elaborate laws have been enacted. These laws have had their
vicissitudes, and are not yet free from complications. The first
drainage legislation commenced forty years ago, by a special act, to
drain some wet lands near Chicago. In 1859 two special acts were passed
for lands on the American bottoms. In 1865 a general act was passed. All
these enactments were under the constitution of 1848 which was silent on
drainage, and the courts annulled most of these as unconstitutional. In
1870 the new constitution was framed containing a brief provision on
drainage. The late Mr. Browning, a leading member of that convention,
drafted a drainage bill which was enacted into a law without change.
Large enterprises were organized and got well started; but again some
complaining person appealed to the courts, and this law too, was
declared too big for the constitution. The constitution was then
enlarged to meet if possible, the views of the court. Two elaborate laws
on the main question were passed in 1879, and these with several
amendments since made rest undisturbed on the statutes. One of these is
generally known as the "levee law," and the other as the "farm drainage
act." They cover nearly the same subject matter, and were passed to
compromise conflicting views. These laws relate to "combined drainage."
"Individual drainage" was not discussed. As the law does not undertake
to define how deep you may plow or what crop you shall raise, so it was
thought unnecessary to make any provisions about the drainage of your
own land.

COURT DECISION.--To the public surprise the Appellate court at Ottawa in
two decisions pronounced individual drainage unlawful. As this decision
is notable, and the subject of controversy, its history should be known.
In 1876, Mr. C. Pilgrim, of Bureau county, laid about sixty rods of
two-inch tile up a slight depression in his corn-field, discharging the
same under a box culvert in the public road. This depression continued
into a pasture field of Mr. J. H. Mellor, of Stark county, about
eighteen rods to a running stream. Mr. Mellor sued Mr. Pilgrim for
trespass, and the case was twice tri