Show stronghold OF THE BEAVER i largest colony in existence making a i last stand in fastnesses Fast nesses of southern J far up in the fastnesses fast nesses ot the southern hidden in one of the roost inaccessible nooks that remain in this country today what is proba bly the largest existing colony of bear er has established itself tor a fast stand the beaver was once one of the most abundant of our american animals but the ease with which he was trapped and the value of his fur soon drove him far on the road to extinction soon only the most stringent of protective legislation was able to save him but now he seems to be coming back and wherever he finds a favorable lo 10 cation he increases rapidly there Is no better place in the world i to study the interesting habits of this little animal than in that little hidden mountain valley just south of the colorado line which the mexicans have christened and the ameri cans call beaver lakes the valley nestles the very backbone of the continental divide feet above sea level and from every side it Is approachable only y long and toilsome forest travel except in win ter when it Is not approachable at all the hollow in the mountains crest I 1 dotted with irregular Irre gulai rows and manla cure ranges 0 hills two and three hundred feet high that make up a most bewildering topography in among these hills the beaver have i built them a city the landscape Is ideal for the building of their dams and by throwing barriers of stick and mud from hillside to hillside they have created a dozen big lakes some of them halt a mile long along the shores of these lakes are built the bearers lodges there are probably thousand beaver in this community reigning in undisputed supremacy over thear mountain domain they are shy brutes but very early in the morning and just at sunset you can often surprise them cutting the quaking abea on the bank with their chisel teeth or plastering away industriously at ona of their elaborate dams |