BEAVER DAMS. 117 



bosomed in the midst of hills still mantled with the 

 primitive forest, and reflecting, in the pure atmos- 

 phere of this elevated region, the brilliant sunshine 

 from their glittering faces, they enliven the solitude 

 of this wilderness with their cheerful aspect, as well 

 as break up by their presence its otherwise boundless 

 spread. 



The outlets of nearly all of these lakes are ob- 

 structed with dams, the most of which are without 

 any apparent necessity, unless by means of them 

 they are enabled to hold the lakes at a higher and 

 more uniform level. The first of these which will be 

 noticed is upon the outlet of Lake Mary. It is rep- 

 resented as No. 5 upon the map. While it is of mod- 

 erate dimensions, being seventy feet long, with an 

 average height of two and a half feet, it was peculiar 

 in this, that for a considerable portion of its length on 

 either end it is a solid-bank dam, and a stick-dam in 

 the centre across the original channel of the outlet. 

 On the southwest end the embankment was fifteen 

 feet long, extending for a short distance upon the 

 bank ; on the other twenty-five feet long, overlapping 

 the bank in the same manner; and in the interval or 

 central portion it was constructed, for thirty-one feet, 

 of interlaced sticks and poles. 



Upon the outlet of Lake Helen there is another 

 dam (No. 4), which is one hundred and twenty feet 

 long, and two feet six inches high at its greatest ele- 

 vation. It was situated so far down the outlet that 

 the water of the pond did not set back as far as the 

 lake. At an early day this lake was known among 

 the trappers as Beaver Lake, from the number of 

 beavers found inhabiting its banks. 



