59(i JOURXAL OF FORESTRY 



dollars per pound and as the little animal carried from one to two 

 pounds in its body the premium for its destruction was from four to 

 ten dollars according to the size and the prevailing price of furs. As 

 the streams of the West — of the whole country for that matter^ 

 originally swarmed with these animals in numbers that rivaled the 

 illimitable buffalo herds of the plains, it will be readily understood what 

 a mine of wealth here lay open to the industry of the trader and the 

 trapper. 



"Every stream of the West was as rich as if sands of gold covered 

 its bottom — a richness moreover, which if gathered with judgment 

 and not to the degree of extermination, would renew itself by natural 

 increase. 



"The beaver also supplied another article of commerce, a secretion 

 from two small glands of the body. This was always known in the 

 commerce of the mountains as castorum. In the arts it is more com- 

 monly called castor. In the mountains its value was about three 

 dollars per pound. The castorum was used as the beaver's bait, and 

 thus the little animal itself supplied the means of alluring its race to 

 destruction. The extensive use of the beaver fur in the early years 

 of the century caused an increase in exportation from America to 

 Europe, reaching as high as 300,000 skins annually. This great 

 draught on the supply led to the rapid extermination of the beaver." 



In Mr. Chittenden's book, The Yellowstone, is the following 

 statement : 



"But a business carried on with such relentless vigor naturally soon 

 taxed the resources of nature beyond its capacity of reproduction. In 

 regions under the control of a single organization, as in the vast do- 

 mains of the Hudson Bay Company, great care was taken to preserve 

 the fur-bearing animals from extinction. In the United States terri- 

 tory the excess of competition made any such provision impossible." 



There is not an instance in any section of the country of a departure 

 from the original destructive policy. It is true, protective laws have 

 been passed by many of the States but under the existence of the laws 

 there has been no effort devoted to a systematic study of the problem 

 looking to a plan for stable production. The growing sentiment for 

 wild-life preservation coupled with the realization of the place beavers 

 fill as water conservers in the irrigation regions has done much to 

 direct attention toward better methods of protection. This has been 

 particularly noticeable in those States where there has been a closed 

 season and the animals have increased to such an extent that a cry has 

 been raised of damage to crops. Those who wish to prey upon the 

 beaver seek to gain their ends by noising their destructive tendencies. 



