igoi] Campbell — Algonquin Park. 83 



A natural game preserve. 



Mr C. K. Grig-g-, then a member of the Park staff, in the 

 autumn of 1897, contributed two short articles to thi; " Ottawa 

 Evening- Journal," which contained some very interesting infor- 

 mation about the inhabitants of this g-reat g^ame and fish preserve. 

 He also proved conclusively the necessity for such an asylum for 

 our g-ame, and showed how successful the experiment had been. 

 He said that prior to the inception of the Park, scarcely a beaver 

 could be found outside its present limits anywhere in this province 

 south of Lake Nipissing, and that in what is now the Park, only 

 a few straggling and decimated colonies existed. It is estimated 

 that there are now hundreds of colonies of these interesting 

 animals within its boundaries. In many cases, they have not 

 only erected new dams, but have also built upon the ruins of old 

 ones. The beaver houses which dot the edges of the streams 

 and marshes are, like the dams, marvels of engineering and 

 architectural skill. The menu of this industrious little denizen of 

 the forest consists principally of the tender bark of the saplings, 

 and he afterwards utilizes the denuded trunks for his dams. The 

 following extracts from the *' Report of the Royal Commission on 

 Forest Reservation and National Park," may be of interest : 



"Of the fur-bearing animals, the beaver is by far the most 

 valuable. On the shore of every lake in this district are to be 

 found old beaver houses, and there is scarcely a brook in the 

 whole territory on which at short intervals their abandoned dams 

 may not be seen. Now one may travel for days there without 

 seeing a single fresh beaver sign. 



"There are two reasons why this industrious and harmless 

 animal should be preserved from destruction. First, because its 

 skin furnishes us with one of our richest and most valuable furs ; 

 and, second, because from its habits it is perhaps the 

 greatest natural conservator of water. It is probably within the 

 mark to say that were this region again stocked with beaver as it 

 once was. there would be in every township at least a hundred 

 dams and beaver ponds, each with its family or families of beaver, 

 exclusive of the large numbers in the lakes and rivers where no 

 dam building is necessary. In this way the water area would be 

 increased by perhaps a fifth, a very important circumstance 

 from the lumberman's point of view. 



