1. When such petition shall have been filed in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of the county wherein lies the greatest number of acres in the proposed consolidated district, the clerk shall immediately cause to be published in some newspaper in each county having lands in the proposed district three consecutive weeks, three times, a notice, substantially in the following form:
2. The circuit court of the county in which said petition has been filed shall thereafter, for all purposes of this chapter, have and maintain original and exclusive jurisdiction coextensive with the boundaries and limits of said district without regard to county lines.