Road districts. Election of Duties. Damages. Obstructing roads. levy the aforesaid tax at any regular or special meeting of said Board. The moneys so collected shall be paid into the County Treasury and set apart as a Road Fund, and shall only be expended by the Board of Supervisors in the laying out, repairing and maintaining public roads and highways in said county. All sums of money so expended shall be first audited and allowed by the Board of Supervisors, upon the certificate of the Roadmaster that the work has been faithfully performed or that the supplies furnished were necessary to be had; and warrants upon the Road Fund shall be drawn by the Auditor forthwith. SEC. 2. For all purposes of this law, the townships of said county are and shall be road districts within the meaning of the law, and they may be changed, created or more distinctly defined by the Board of Supervisors at any time when they may, in their discretion, see fit to change, create or more distinctly define the same. SEC. 3. At each general election the qualified electors of each road district shall elect some citizen of said road district a Roadmaster of said district for the term of two years from and after his election. It shall be the duty of the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors to notify such person of his election, and he shall, within ten days from the receipt of such notice, qualify by filing a bond with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, to be approved by the Board, in a penal sum of not exceeding five hundred dollars, conditioned for [the] faithful performance of his duties; provided, that the Board shall have full power and authority to fill by appointment any and all vacancies that may occur from death, removal, resignation or disqualification. SEC. 4. It shall be the duty of the Roadmaster to keep in repair and have general supervision of all roads in the district, and to erect such bridges and culverts as the means at his command will permit. He shall oversee and direct the labor expended upon the roads, and see that teams, ploughs, scrapers and other implements are furnished for the road service. He shall receive a compensation of two dollars and fifty cents per diem for each entire day that he is actually employed, payable out of the Road Fund, after being properly audited and allowed by the Board of Supervisors. SEC. 5. In all cases where damages to the lands of private individuals are claimed on account of the opening by the Board of Supervisors of any public road or highway, the parties intending to apply for such damages shall petition the Board of Supervisors, who shall appoint three Viewers to assess the damages done to such property by the opening and construction of said road. SEC. 6. If any person shall obstruct any public road or highway in the County of San Bernardino, by felling a tree or trees across it, or turning a stream of water across it without properly bridging said stream at his own expense, he shall be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not less than ten dollars nor more than fifty dollars, and he shall be further liable to the Roadmaster for damages at the rate of five dollars per diem for each and every day that said obstruction shall remain upon said road or highway after he has been notified to remove or remedy the same. Any person wilfully injuring a bridge built by the County of San Bernardino under the provisions of this Act, shall be, on conviction, fined not more than one hundred dollars, or in default of payment of said fine shall be imprisoned in the County Jail for not less than thirty days. It is hereby made the duty of the Roadmaster in each district to prosecute all offences of this class on behalf of the county, before the Justice of the Peace in the township where he may reside. SEC. 7. All Acts or parts of Acts in conflict with the provions of this Act are hereby repealed. SEC. 8. This Act shall take effect immediately. CHAPTER CCLXX. An Act to lower the grade of Sansome street, from Broadway street to [Approved March 24, 1868.] The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and SECTION 1. The grade of Sansome street, from Broadway street Grade to Lombard street, is hereby so changed and lowered that the changed. crossing of Sansome street and Vallejo street shall be twentyeight feet above base instead of thirty feet as at present; that the crossing of Sansome street and Greene street shall be twentyone feet above base instead of thirty feet as at present; that the crossing of Sansome street and Union street shall be fourteen feet above base instead of thirty feet as at present; that the crossing of Sansome street and Filbert street shall be eight [feet] above base instead of twenty-four feet as at present; that the crossing of Sansome street and Greenwich street shall be four feet above base instead of twelve feet as at present. SEC. 2. All Acts and parts of Acts inconsistent or in conflict with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed. SEC. 3. This Act shall take effect immediately. CHAPTER CCLXXI. An Act concerning roads and highways in the County of San Mateo. The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and SECTION 1. All roads in the County of San Mateo shall be Public considered as public highways which have been used and im- highways. proved as such, or which shall hereafter be used and improved Location or vacation. Petition. Proof of notice. Former Act to apply. Appoint Viewers. as such, for the period of five years, or which may be declared such by the Board of Supervisors of said county. SEC. 2. Any person or persons proposing to apply for the location, alteration or vacation of any road or highway in said county shall give notice of such intention by posting notices thereof as follows: one such notice on the door of the Courthouse of said county, and one such notice at a public place near the starting point of the proposed road-not less than fifteen days previous to the time of making such application, which application shall only be made at a regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors; and such notice shall state with particularity the starting point, the course and terminus thereof, if a new road; and if an alteration or vacation of an established road, such proposed alteration or vacation shall be set forth in like manner. SEC. 3. Upon the day specified in any notice of the character described in the previous section, the person or persons giving such notice shall complete the proposed application by petition to the Board of Supervisors, which petition shall be signed by at least five citizens of the county residing in the vicinity of such road, and shall set forth the same matter contained in said notice, and shall ask for the appointment of Viewers to view said proposed location, alteration or vacation, and the final confirmation and establishment thereof; and the joining of any person in such petition shall be considered as a waiver of all right to damages arising from the location of such road through any lands owned or claimed by such petitioner and the dedication of them to public use as a highway. Proof shall also be made to the Board of Supervisors, upon the affidavit of some competent person, of the posting of the notices required in the second section of this Act; provided, that when the owner or claimant is a minor, idiot or insane person, notifying the legal guardian of such minor, idiot or insane person shall be sufficient, and shall be set forth in the affidavit. The notice as provided in the foregoing sections shall be all that shall be necessary to give the Board of Supervisors complete jurisdiction in the premises. SEC. 4. Sections three and four of an Act entitled an Act to provide for the establishment, maintenance and protection of public and private roads, approved May sixteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, are hereby made applicable to the County of San Mateo. SEC. 5. Upon the filing by the petitioners, or some of them, ment of Road of a sufficient bond for the payment of the costs of the location, alteration or vacation of the proposed road, and proof of the notice required in the second section of this Act, together with the affidavits required in the third section of this Act, at the time specified in said notice, the Board of Supervisors shall appoint, as Road Viewers, three disinterested citizens, one of whom shall be a practical surveyor, and shall place in the hands of such Road Viewers the petition for the road which they are to view, together with all applications for damages in the premises; and upon a day named by the Supervisors, within five days thereof, after taking an oath to perform faithfully the duties devolving upon them by law as such Road Viewers, they shall proceed to view the proposed location, alteration or vacation, route. and shall decide whether such proposed location, alteration or vacation is required for public convenience; and they shall take into consideration private as well as public interest. If, in the opinion of the Viewers, the prayer of petitioners is reasonable, and the location, alteration or vacation necessary to the public, they shall take to their assistance two chainman and a marker, who shall be sworn by one of the Road Viewers, who are each hereby authorized to administer all oaths required by this Act, To define and shall proceed to survey said proposed location or alteration, and shall distinctly mark the commencement, the courses, distance and termination of said route; and the surveyor shall make a plat and field notes of said survey, which shall be filed as a part of the report of said Viewers. At or before the first day of the regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors next succeeding that at which Road Viewers have been appointed, as provided by this Act, or at or before such special meeting of said Board as they may by order appoint for that purpose (but twenty days at least shall intervene between such special meeting at which said Viewers are appointed), they shall file with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors a report of their proceedings in the Report. premises, in which they shall set forth: First-Who of them were present. Second-Whether such location, alteration or vacation is or is not advisable. Third-The expenses of the Viewers and survey. Fourth-The amount of damages sustained separately by each applicant for damages, and the township in which the land for which damages have been awarded is situated. Fifth-The total amount of damages that shall be awarded in each township through which the proposed road passes. The said Viewers, in estimating the damages that any one will receive by reason of the location or alteration of said road, may take into consideration the benefits that such person will receive by reason of said location or alteration, as an offset to said damages. to confirm. SEC. 6. Upon the first day of the regular meeting of the Supervisors Board of Supervisors next succeeding that at which the Road Viewers were appointed, or at a special meeting, as provided in section five of this Act, the Board of Supervisors shall proceed to consider all the matters touching the original petition for the location, alteration or vacation of any road, and all subsequent proceedings had therein, in connection with the report of the Viewers on file, and such evidence as parties interested may introduce touching the same; and if in their opinion the public good and convenience require that the proposed location, alteration or vacation should be established, they shall confirm the report thereon in whole, or in part, as they may deem advisable, and establish said location or alteration, or as much thereof as they may deem advisable, as a public highway; in which case the damages assessed and the costs which have accrued shall be paid out of the Road Fund of the respective townships through which the road passes, each township paying such pro rata of said damages and costs as shall be ascertained and determined by the Board of Supervisors; provided, the Board of Supervisors may make the establishment of said road, or alteration, condi Or reject. costs to be paid. tioned upon the payment by the petitioners of all or any part of the damages assessed, or the costs which may have accrued, or both the damages and costs. If, in the opinion of the Board of Supervisors, the proposed location, alteration or vacation is not necessary for the public good, or is not of sufficient importance to warrant the action asked for, they may refuse to confirm the report of the Viewers, and may discontinue proceedings in the premises; and they shall then direct the District Attorney to collect the expenses which may have accrued during the progress of the proceedings had in the premises, upon the bond herein before provided for in this Act. Whenever the Board of Supervisors shall ascertain and determine the pro rata Damagesand of damages and costs to be paid by the several townships, as above provided, they shall cause an order to that effect to be entered in the minutes of the Board, and it shall be the duty of the Clerk of the Board to transmit, without delay, a certified copy of said order, or so much thereof as may be applicable to the township to be affected thereby, to the Clerk of the Board of Trustees of the several townships to be affected thereby. The Boards of Trustees of the respective townships affected by said order, at their first meeting after the receipt of said certified order from the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, shall draw a warrant in favor of the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, upon the Road Fund of the township, and cause the same to be paid, and the money to be transmitable without delay to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, to be by him paid to the parties entitled thereto, provided there is sufficient funds in the Township Treasury applicable thereto; if there are not sufficient funds in the Township Treasury applicable to the payment thereof, then said warrant shall be registered by the Township Treasurer and paid as other warrants are, subject to all laws applicable to the payment of demands against the township. Whenever the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors shall pay to any one the amount of damages which may have been awarded to him under the provisions of this Act, he shall take a receipt from said party, and file the same in the office of Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, and shall make a memorandum of the said payment in Before road the minutes of the Board. No road shall be opened under the provisions of this Act until all damages have been paid to the parties entitled thereto, or have been deposited with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, and to be paid by him as aforesaid. SEC. 7. Whenever any public road is established, as contemplated in this Act, it shall be recorded by the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors in a book to be kept for that purpose, which book shall be called the "Road Record." Upon the final establishment of any road, and the payment or depositing with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors of the damages and costs finally awarded, the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors shall, within ten days thereafter, notify the several Township Trustees, through which said road passes, of the establishment thereof, and furnish them with a specific description of said road; and it shall be the duty of such Township Trustees to cause such road to be opened within thirty days from the reception of such notice, unless there were at the time of locating such road growing crops upon the ground affected by such road, in which case it shall be opened. Record. Duty of |