Kan. Stat. § 24-472
That whenever private parties or corporations claim to own any part of the land so to be appropriated in any such drainage district, having taxable property to the amount of not less than forty million dollars as shown by the assessment roll of the preceding year, and which shall have deposited with the treasurer of the county wherein such land is situated, money to compensate for the appropriation of land necessary for the making of such improvements, the governor, when satisfied that the money so deposited is amply sufficient to make full and adequate compensation for such property so to be appropriated, shall thereupon issue a proclamation declaring that the state of Kansas has taken and appropriated such land, describing the same, and proclaiming that from and after the date of publication of such proclamation said property and the right to the possession thereof vests in the state of Kansas.
Such proclamation shall be published in the official paper of the county wherein the land so appropriated is situated, and shall be notice to all parties interested, that the state of Kansas has taken and appropriated the land therein described, and thereupon the governor shall take and hold possession of said land in the name and on behalf of the state: Provided, however, The governor may appoint and designate the board of directors of the drainage district in which such lands are situated, as agents of the state to take and hold such possession for and on behalf of and in the name of the state, and the possession of such land by the governor or such agent shall be possession by the state; and the sheriff of the county wherein such land is situated, shall upon the request of the governor or such agent, put them in possession of such property.
K.S.A. 24-472