Any levee district heretofore organized and any district that is now in process of organization or any levee district that may hereafter be organized under any previous or existing law of this state, either general or special, may organize under the provisions of sections 245.010 to 245.280, and after so organized shall be entitled to the benefits of all of the provisions of sections 245.010 to 245.280. The owners of a majority of acreage of any existing levee district may make and sign articles of association in which shall be stated: The name of the district which shall be the same as the name it bears when such articles of association are made, and the number of years such district is to continue, which shall in no event be for fewer years than the life of any of its existing obligations. Such articles shall also state that the boundaries of the district will be the same as the boundaries of the present organization and that the description of the land and other property and the owners thereof are such as are described in the present record of the district as now organized and said articles of association shall contain a petition, praying that the lands of said levee district be declared a levee district under the provisions of sections 245.010 to 245.280. After such articles of association have been so signed, the same shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of the county in which such lands are situate, or if such lands be situate in two or more counties, then in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of the county in which there are situate more of said lands than in any other county.