ccount of the immense numbers of beavers found there.
Disappointment, however, awaited them, for other trappers had preceded
them, and made such thorough work that it was useless for the last
arrivals to unload and set their traps.

The party visited other sections but in every instance they appeared
to be "a day too late for the fair;" the beaver runs had been worked so
thoroughly by others that it was useless for them to expect success.

The beaver, as the reader probably knows, aside from its great value
in producing fur and perfume, possesses a most wonderful instinct. They
live in communities and prefer to build their houses by small clear
rivers and creeks or close to springs. Sometimes they are found on the
banks of lakes.

The dams which they construct with the skill of a professional civil
engineer, are built for the purpose of making sure of a full supply of
water at all times and seasons. These dams are composed of stones,
mud and tree branches, the base being ten or twelve feet in thickness
sloping gradually upward to the summit.

In building their dams, the beaver does not thrust the ends of the
stakes into the bed of the river, but lays them down horizontally,
holding them in place by piling mud and stones upon them. The logs which
compose the dams are mostly from six to eight inches in diameter, though
some have been found nearly two feet through. The enormous number of
such logs used may be imagined perhaps, when the ponderous character of
the dams is remembered, and when it is stated that some of them are more
than an eighth of a mile wide. Every log, after being gnawed off the
proper length, is stripped of its bark which is stored away for use as
food during the winter.

The lodges of the beavers are composed principally of mud, moss and
branches, circular in shape, the space within being seven feet in width
and about half as high. The walls are so thick that on the outside the
corresponding dimensions are nearly three times as great as within. The
roof is finished off with a thick layer of mud, laid on with wonderful
smoothness and renewed every year. The severe frosts of winter freeze
the lodge into such a solid structure that the beaver is safe against
the wolverine, which is unable to break through the wall, resembling the
adobe structures found in Mexico and the Southwest. Even the trapper who
attempts to demolish one of the structures finds it tiresome labor, even
with the help of iron imple