Any person having obtained the right to erect and maintain, or to maintain or raise any dam, under the provisions of this act, who shall not, within one year thereafter, begin to build said dam and finish the same, or who, having already erected said dam, shall, for the same length of time, fail to proceed, under the provisions of this act, to perfect his or her right to maintain the same, and apply the water power thereby created to the purposes stated in his or her petition, within three years, or in case the said dam and mills connected therewith shall be destroyed, shall not begin to rebuild it one year after such destruction, and finish it in three years, or, having erected such mills, shall fail to keep them in operation for two years at any one time, shall forfeit all rights acquired by virtue of the provisions of this act.