Montana § 85-8-366 - Drains On Railroad Lands

§ 85-8-366. Drains On Railroad Lands

Drains on railroad lands. (1) Said commissioners shall have the right to lay out and construct all necessary drains, ditches, and levees across any railway right-of-way or yards in their district. Any railway company whose right-of-way or yards cross the line of any proposed drain, ditch, or levee shall open its right-of-way or yards and permit such drain, ditch, or levee to cross the same as soon as said drain, ditch, or levee is constructed to such right-of-way. (2) Every drainage district shall be liable to the railway company whose right-of-way or yard any of its drains, ditches, or levees cross for the reasonable cost of the culverts and bridges made necessary by said drain, ditch, or levee crossing said right-of-way or yards but not of more expensive character than the average other culverts and bridges on said division of railway crossing streams or ditches of approximately the same width and depth and within 100 miles of said district ditches. (3) Upon receiving 15 days' notice in writing, any railway company in whose right-of-way or yard any such drain, ditch, or levee is laid out shall open its right-of-way or yards and permit said commissioners and their contractors, agents, and employees to construct said drain, ditch, or levee or to repair, maintain, or clean out same across said right-of-way or yards. For every day after the end of said 15 days that said railroad company fails to open its said right-of-way or yard, as hereinbefore required, it shall forfeit $25 to said drainage district, to be collected in an action, as other forfeitures are collected, or set off against any damages that have been awarded to such company. If said railway company fails to open its right-of-way or yard along the line of said drainage district, drain, ditch, or levee, the commissioners may, at any time after the expiration of said 15 days, open such right-of-way and yard along the line of said drains, ditches, and levees and construct the same.