Kaw Valley Drainage District v. Kansas City Southern Railway Co.

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Johnston, C. J.:

The Kaw Valley drainage district invoked the extraordinary remedy of mandamus to compel the commissioners of Wyandotte county and the Kansas City Southern Railway Company to remove from the channel of the Kaw river the wreckage of two bridges cast into the river in the flood of 1903, more than twenty years ago, part of which it is alleged is still in the river. It appears from the record that the county bridge was erected in 1879 and that the railroad bridge was built in 1892. The county, it appears, had nothing to do with the building…