436 WARREN 



end. The pond had been 600 feet long and was at least 100 

 feet wide at the upper end. Now there is only a small crooked 

 stream meandering through the site, with a little water still re- 

 tained by the dam, at the lower end. The dam at the outlet, 

 where it had been cut, was 10 feet wide at the bottom and 4 

 feet deep. There is a lodge 25 feet beyond the west end of the 

 dam and a little north of it (the dam was across the southeast 

 end of the pond). I cut the house open so as to expose a cross 

 section from north to south (PL xxxii, fig. 2). Before cutting, 

 the house measured 10 feet from east to west and it was 8 feet 

 wide across the section. The cavity or chamber was 2 feet wide 

 and extended back 4^ feet. It measured 10 inches high but I 

 think the roof had undoubtedly settled a little. The thickness 

 of the roof over the chamber was 22 inches. The thickness of 

 the walls on either side of the chamber was 3 feet. The floor 

 was just above the water level and there was a bed of slough 

 grass inside. The entrance came into the chamber from under 

 a mass of brush which lay to the east of the house. 



This brush was willow stems and twigs which had been cut 

 by the beavers and extended out from the house for a space of 

 15 feet. Then came a space of 7 feet without any brush, and 

 then another brush heap 20 feet long. These 2 lots of brush 

 varied in width from 6 to 10 feet. The one farthest from the 

 house extended into the water (of which there was a little here) 

 beyond the point to which I measured. The willows were an 

 inch or less in diameter. They had been there so long that the 

 bark was falling off, but I could not see any signs that the 

 beavers had ever used them. 



Near the upper end of this pond was a muskrat house, built 

 up against a willow bush, and was 3 feet in diameter and 2^^ 

 feet high. The entrance was at the bottom and was 7 in. wide 

 by 8 in. high. The structure was built of bunches of moss and 

 slough grass. A runway still showed coming from the entrance 

 out into the pond (PL xxxiii, fig. i). 



The beavers are found more or less all alongf the stream from 

 the point where this description begins to the little mining camp 

 of Pittsburg, 7 miles above. Above that place the stream flows 

 through a narrow rocky gulch entirely unadapted to the ani- 

 mal's habits. 



