Show BEAVER STILL THRIVES four footed rooted engineer a flourishing inhabitant of maine malue great energy and cunning andian ie to nil his X nir taral cuemy and lie he ii in alto also hunt td by take th vengeful lumbar luin br nan b ms HIS DAM BUILDING METHODS in spite of all the destruction by bungor B poachers and the cutting off of the forests in many sections the maine beaver continues to thrive and of late years he has been remarkably busy in the construction of dam data and snug winter quarters the work in some places being of such magnitude and so cleverly done that people have traveled miles to eee see and admire it at caribou a colony of beavis built a fine large dam and were weft just completing their bouses houses abea some come miscreant destroyed the en tire works and killed kille d many of the ani aul male mals by the explosion of a heavy charge of dynamite in the stream the beavers rs that survived were neither alarmed nor d Reou raged however but set immediately to work rebuilding the dam and the little houses so that in a few weeks the colony was better prepared than before for the long siege of winter the townspeople were enraged at the des action of the dam and have of rewards for the detection of the men who exploded the dynamite while several citizens have gone so far as to threaten to shoot the first firs t man caught injuring or interfering in any way with the furry home bu iders which are re carded with affection by all the people there PECULIAR TO NORTH AMERICA an Aroos aroostook took county man who bas has spent his life in the woods and knows all about beavers speaks thus interest angly of the little animals the beaver Is a native of north america in some other countries there are animals that resemble them but their numbers ate are limited and their works are cant compared with those of the amer lean beaker all over this country from the greit lakes to the gulf of mexico and from the atlantic to the pacific the works of the beaver are found the little animals still existing in many states they are very plo pi lifis and if undisturbed by their natural cuemy ene myman man their numbers Ind increase rease very rapidly the red man was and Is yet the greatest enemy of the beaver bea ver the in III bel eve that the flesh of the beav er when cooked cooled and eaten will prolong life and they will go long distances t to hant hunt the animals the white hunter comes next and bills kills vast numbers every year for the fur when turbid in a wooded country the ani mals multiply rigidly and build so many mazy dams that the timber on large tracts of land is killed by the overflow 0 of water thus caused 0 a a thirty years ago the united states government removed the bad water indiana who theares then res ded in the north era ern part of michigan an to a re on la in the far par biest 11 est seven years after ward I 1 traveled over their old hunting grounds with a surveying party an and a wag was surprised to see the destruction that had been caused by bea beakers era in the big timber all through that section ENEMY OF THE the lumbermen hate beavers and I 1 am a told that a movement Is now dow being made by the land owners in mane malpe to hare have them destroyed chev not only km kill the growing timber but their dams dam S obstruct the streams and brooks down which the logs are driven I 1 have helped to cut away the dams and clear away the houses that obstructed some r streams and returning three weeks later found the dams and houses re built and the streams again full of brush the dams and houses are built of mud sticks stones and the green branches of trees the beavers do not k nee we their tails for trowels as some would have us believe the mud Is car ried between the chin and paws they cannot make a stick lie at the bottom of a pond unless they load it with stones and an mud and then it often gets aw awl i from them and cornea comes to the surface again they cannot make trees tall fall in inyo direction they choose but IS most of tl e trees along the bank lean tow ird the stream they will naturally fall into the water when gnawed off DESTROY DAMS BEFORE MOVING neither do the beavers ine lind in one place always when the white birch willow and other trees on which they teed feed begin to get scarce the colony after a hole in the dam will disband this always happens in III the oaring time one visiting the deserted works will se ape the bottom of the empty pond covered with short peeled sticks and the round hole in each house near the bottom of the stream that was used for A door go along up stream and you will see several holes in the in the beaver hides when ills village is attacked and the bouses houses destroyed the entrance to thia this hole Is under water it the dam Is intact but if you take the pain to follow it i p you will find that it ter initiates ben beneath flath some large tree near the surface of f the ground here in eummer summer the young beavers beaters are born and not in the houses as some writers tell us THEIR WINTER RESIDENCE when autumn draws hear near the bear beav ers era migrate generally up tip stream to dome convenient spot and a new dam and houses are rapidly constructed ahe trees along the bank are felled and arld huge piles ot of wood are heaped up before the doors door of t the houses always under water the houses are built crom the bottom and rise above the water when they are plastered oat out side with mud they are about the size and shape of i t haycock I 1 have seen as many as thirty houses in one pon 1 I 1 when winter comes the pond freezes solid the beaver Is then safe aiom all enemies save man and a man must be a cunning hunter to get the furry and chubby little quadruped the chamber of the house Is above water and Is I 1 lined with moss and lea leanes es the door comes out under the water close to the brush pile the houses are not con necked the beaver lives in III winter 1312 hi store of bark and tender shoots gath ered in the fall and does not come out until spring on the upper side of the dam he has large quantities of mate rial stored to use in repaire repairs should any damage bedone to his dam or house it Is said that the beaver bleeps in his chamber with his tail hanging banging in the ater it if anything happens to the dam he knows it at once for his tail telegraphs him so to speak when the water bens beris beg to fall the modern w ay of trapping beaver beater la lb to cut a hole in the ice between between the wooda ie le and the house A aset set steel trap Is then lowered by means of a split stick until jt it sinks into the mud and Is thus concealed the chain of the he trap is fastened to a dry stake driven sol adly into the pond the beaver discovers the stake and in try ing to remove it gets caught As he cannot read ly gnaw a dry stick he soon drowns I 1 have known beaver to occupy ponds where lumbermen have built dams in the woods but they generally prefer to do their own work A few years ago some beavais were dincov ered in the pond of a mill on hard wood creek near Paik Pail hurst me someone ho ito sted the gate but no beav ers era came out next morn ng however the flume was found to be choked ef factually with stumps logs stones and mud and the water thus stopped As there were only jwo two beavers there the work worl they d d in one choit night was remarkable a good days work for two able bodied men philadelphia record |