When any watercourse is laid off into districts, hands shall be apportioned, the necessary instruments furnished, and the watercourse cleared out, obstructions removed, and the stream kept in good order by the overseer, under the same regulations and penalties in regard to overseers and hands as in the case of public roads.
Code 1858, § 1302 (deriv. Acts 1784 (Oct.), ch. 14, § 16); Shan., § 1811; Code 1932, § 3077; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 70-104.