32 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. 



Rio Grande, and the Gila rivers on the south, and 

 southward of these ranges in Tamaulipas in Mexico, 

 which is the southernmost point to which he has been 

 definitely traced. Throughout all the intermediate 

 areas, from Hudson's Bay and the Atlantic on the 

 east, to the Pacific on the west, he was found dis- 

 tributed at the several epochs of European discovery. 

 Climatically he may be said to belong to the temper- 

 ate regions, from which his spread northward within 

 the Arctic Circle and southward into Mexico is doubt- 

 less ascribable to the courses of the rivers and to his 

 aquatic habits. Beavers were found in the greatest 

 numbers in the thick wood country around Hudson's 

 Bay, one-half of which, according to Sir George Simp- 

 son, is underwater; around the shores of Lake Superior, 

 upon the head waters of the Missouri and the Siskatch- 

 ewun,^ and upon the tributaries of the Columbia. The 

 regions bordering on the Yukon, on the upper part of 

 Mackenzie River, on Frazer's River, and on the Sacra- 

 mento were also notable for beavers. New England, 

 New York, Pennsylvania, and the Canadas were less 

 abundantly but very well supplied at the period of col- 

 onization. Southward, toward the Gulf, they were less 

 numerous, and in the vast prairie area in the interior 

 of the continent they were confined, of course, to the 

 margins of the rivers. With the commencement of 

 colonization their habitat began to contract. They 

 have now substantially disappeared from the United 

 States east of the Rocky Mountains, except in the 

 States of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa; 

 and in the Territories of Nebraska, Dakota, Idaho, 



^ Kis-sis-katch'-e-wuD, " Swift Water." Cree Dialect. 



