Michigan Compiled Laws, Chapter 485. Canal, Harbor and River Improvement Companies § 485.211

Sec. 11. Any such corporation formed for the improvement of any boundary river in whole or part and any of its tributaries, and for driving, sorting, holding and delivering logs thereon, which shall have taken prior possession of such boundary river for that purpose, shall have power to improve such river and its tributaries by clearing and straightening the channels thereof, closing sloughs, erecting sluiceways, booms of all kinds, side rolling and flooding dams, driving piles and erecting piers or otherwise, as may be necessary or suitable for the purpose aforesaid: Provided, That such sluiceways, booms, dams, piles and piers shall so far as practicable, be so constructed and used as to allow of the free passage of logs, timber and other floatables along such waters. Every corporation which shall so improve a boundary river or any of its tributaries for the purpose of driving logs thereon, and keep in repair and operate its works, may charge and collect reasonable and uniform tolls upon all logs, lumber and timber driven or floated on the same, and may take possession of all logs put into said stream, or upon rollways so as to impede the drive, when the owners thereof or their agents shall not have come upon the stream adequately provided with men, teams and tools for breaking rollways and driving such logs in season for making a through drive down such stream without hindering the main drive, and shall also, at the request of the owner of any logs and timber put into said stream, take charge of the same and drive the same down and out of such stream, and charge and collect therefor of the owner or party controlling said logs and timber reasonable charges and expenses for such services, (and all charges for running, driving, booming, towing, rafting, sorting and delivering of logs, timber or lumber by such corporation shall be by the scale of such logs, timber or lumber per 1,000 feet board measure); and such corporation shall for all such tolls, costs and expenses, have a lien on the logs for which the same were incurred, and shall be entitled to maintain possession of such logs or timber, or so much thereof as may be necessary to satisfy the amount of such tolls, costs and all expenses for taking care of the same until the same shall be determined, satisfied and paid in the manner hereinafter prescribed.