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mitted in the said river Delaware against this act ought to be tried:

For removing thereof:

[Section VI.] Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every offense committed in the said river against this act shall be laid to be committed and may be tried and determined as aforesaid in any of the counties within this province opposite to or joining on that part of the said river in which such offense shall be committed.

[Section VII.] Provided always, and be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That nothing herein contained shall give any power or authority to the commissioners herein appointed, or any of them, to remove, throw down, lower, impair or in any manner to alter a mill-dam erected by Adam Hoops, Esquire, in the said river Delaware between his plantation and an island in the said river nearly opposite to Trenton, or any mill dam erected by any other person or persons in the said river before the passing of this act, nor to obstruct or in any manner to hinder the said Adam Hoops or such other person or persons, his or their heirs and assigns, from maintaining, raising or repairing the said dams respectively or from taking water out of the said river for the use of the said mills and water works erected as aforesaid and none other.

[Section VIII.] And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said commissioners shall keep minutes of their proceedings in pursuance of the power hereby given to them fairly entered in a book, and shall, once in every year, make report of their transactions in improving the navigation in the said rivers to the assembly of this province for the time being, and shall lay before them a just and faithful account of all sums of money by them received for the aforesaid purposes, and in what manner they shall be expended, that the same may be adjusted and settled.

Passed March 9, 1771. Referred for consideration by the King in Council, October 9, 1771, and allowed to become a law by lapse of time in accordance with the proprietary charter. See Appendix XXIX, and the note to the Act of Assembly passed March 14, 1761, Chapter 463; and the Acts of Assembly passed September 20, 1783, Chapter 1035; March 19, 1794, Chapter 1722; February

27, 1798, Chapter 1973; March 23, 1803, P. L. 389; February 8,
1804, P. L. 75; February 1, 1808, P. L. 18; March 22, 1814, P. L.
181; March 26, 1814, P. L. 200; (the Resolution of) February 21, 1815,
P. L. 187; (the Resolution of) March 13, 1815, P. L. 190; March
13, 1817, P. L. 106; March 20, 1818, P. L. 197; March 23, 1818, P.
L. 227; March 29, 1819, P. L. 261; March 6, 1820, P. L. 49; March 26,
1821, P. L. 101; February 13, 1822, P. L. 21; March 13, 1823, P. L. 74;
April 1, 1825, P. L. 141; February 9, 1826, P. L. 25; April 5, 1826,
P. L. 204; April 23, 1829, P. L. 312; (the Resolution of) February 6,
1830, P. L. 406; (the Resolution of) April 10, 1832, P. L. 638; April
6, 1833, P. L. 210; March 29, 1836, P. L. 212; June 21, 1839, P. L.
370; March 14, 1840, P. L. 134; April 12, 1851, P. L. 424; April 30,
1852, P. L. 535; April 8, 1853, P. L. 347; April 7, 1858, P. L. 222;
March 12, 1859, P. L. 128; April 4, 1866, P. L. 436; April 12, 1866, P.
L. 868; March 7, 1872, P. L. 259; June 5, 1885, P. L. 76.

CHAPTER DCXXVII.

AN ACT DECLARING THE RIVER SUSQUEHANNA AND OTHER STREAMS THEREIN MENTIONED PUBLIC HIGHWAYS, FOR IMPROVING THE NAVIGATION OF THE SAID RIVER AND STREAMS, AND PRESERVING THE FISH IN THE SAME.

Whereas it is of importance to the trade and commerce of this province that such rivers and other streams as are or may be made navigable be at all times preserved and kept from all manner of obstructions:

And whereas the improving the navigation of the rivers Susquehanna, Juniata and the streams Conestogoe, Bald Eagle, Machanoy, Penn's creek and Suatara, Connedaguinet and Kiskiminetas, will greatly conduce to the benefit of the inhabitants residing on and near the said rivers and the province in general by increasing the trade of the said province:

And whereas it has been represented to the assembly that many of the inhabitants residing on or near the said rivers and streams, being desirous to promote the public welfare, are willing to contribute considerable sums of money for the purposes aforesaid if commissioners were appointed by law to take, collect and receive the contributions and to apply and appropriate

the same for and towards clearing and making the said rivers and streams more navigable:

Therefore:

[Section I.] Be it enacted by the Honorable John Penn, Esquire, Lieutenant-Governor under the Honorable Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, Esquires, true and absolute Proprietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania and counties of Newcastle, Kent and Sussex upon Delaware, by and with the advice and consent of the representatives of the freemen of the said Province in General Assembly met, and by the authority of the same, That the said river Susquehanna, as far down as Wright's Ferry; the river Juniata, up to Bedford and Frank's Town, and the several streams known by the names of Bald Eagle as far up as Spring creek; Penn's creek twenty miles up on the several courses thereof; Suatara as far up as Peter Kettle's mill-dam; Conestogoe as far up as Matthias Slough's mill-dam; Connedaguinet as far up as the Cove Fording, which leads to the Forty Shilling Gap; Machanoy and Kiskiminetas; shall be and they are hereby declared to be public streams and highways for the purposes of navigation up and down the same, and that all obstructions and impediments to the passage of His Majesty's liege subjects up and down the same erected or hereafter to be erected shall be deemed, held and adjudged common nuisances.

[Section II.] And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That James Wright, George Ross, Thomas Minshall, John Loudon, Alexander Lowrey, William McClay, Samuel Hunter, the younger, William Patterson, Robert Callender, Charles Stewart, Reuben Haines, Thomas Holt and William Richardson, gentlemen, be and they are hereby constituted and appointed commissioners for clearing and making the said rivers Susquehanna, Juniata, Bald Eagle, Penn's creek, Conestogoe, Connedaguinet, Machanoy, Kiskiminetas and Suatara navigable, and that each and every of the said commissioners shall have full power and authority to take, collect, recover and receive of and from any person and persons whatsoever any sum or sums of money which shall be hereafter given, granted or subscribed for and towards making any of the said respective rivers and streams navigable, and the moneys so collected, recovered and

received to lay out, appropriate and employ for and towards making such of the said rivers and streams navigable as shall be mentioned or directed by the person or persons giving and granting the same.

[Section III.] And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said commissioners, or the major part of them or of the survivors of them, shall have full power and authority and they are hereby enjoined and required by themselves, their agents, servants, hirelings and workmen to remove all obstructions whatsoever now erected or hereafter to be erected in and also to scour, enlarge, straighten or deepen the said respective rivers and streams so as aforesaid committed to their respective care in any part, place or places thereof which shall appear to them most convenient for opening, making anew or improving the channels, and also to cut, blow up, remove or take away all trees, rocks or beds of gravel, sand or mud, weirs, dams, baskets, pounds, stones or any other impediment or obstruction whatsoever, and to form, make, erect and set up any dams, pens for water locks or any other works whatsoever which they shall think fit and convenient to answer the purposes aforesaid, and to alter, repair or amend the same as often as it shall be necessary or convenient, and also to appoint, set out and make tow paths or ways for towing, hauling or drawing of boats, vessels or other small craft and rafts of any kind whatsoever in, upon or through the said rivers and streams, which said paths shall be free and open to all persons whatsoever having occasion to use the same, and from time to time and at all times hereafter to do, execute and perform all and every other matter or thing in the said rivers and streams necessary or convenient for making, supporting and continuing the navigation in the same.

[Section IV.] And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person or persons whatsoever from and after the publication of this act shall erect, build, set up, repair or maintain, or shall be aiding, assisting or abetting in erecting, building, setting up, repairing or maintaining any weir, rack, basket, dam, pound or other device or obstruction whatsoever within the said rivers or streams or any of them, or that shall fix or fasten any net or nets across the same, or any part thereof

whereby the fish may be obstructed from going up the said rivers or streams, or that shall take, destroy or spoil any spawn, fry or brood of fish or any kind of fish whatsoever in any such weir, rack, dam, basket, pound or other device aforesaid, every such person so offending, being thereof convicted by the oath or affirmation of one or more credible witnesses or by his own confession before any justice of the peace of the county where such offense shall be committed (which justice is hereby authorized and empowered to hear, try and determine the same), shall forfeit and pay the sum of five pounds lawful money of this government for every such offense, or suffer three month's imprisonment without bail or mainprise, one moiety of which forfeiture shall be paid to the informer or prosecutor, and the other moiety to the commissioners for the respective rivers or streams in which such offense shall be committed, to be applied towards clearing the said respective rivers and streams.

And for the more speedy removal of such weirs, racks, baskets, dams, pounds and other devices and obstructions aforesaid as are already or hereafter shall be made in any part of the said rivers and streams:

[Section V.] Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the justices of the county court of quarter sessions of the several counties within this province bounded on and adjoining to any part of the said rivers and streams at their next court of quarter sessions after the publication of this act and as often after as there shall be occasion, and that any of the said justices of the peace out of sessions shall and they are hereby enjoined and required to issue their warrants to the supervisors of the highways of each and every township next adjacent to the weir, rack, dam, basket, pound or other device or obstruction aforesaid so erected, enjoining and requiring them, the said supervisors respectively, forthwith to remove or cause to be removed every such weir, rack, basket, dam, pound or other device or obstruction aforesaid, and for that purpose to summon the inhabitants of their respective townships, giving them three days notice to repair to, throw down, remove and destroy such weir, rack, basket, dam, pound or other device or obstruction aforesaid, so erected, built or set up, and to make return of such their

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