124 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. 



quickly thereafter disappear; and that in no case do 

 the latter remain in any district long after the estab- 

 lishment of the first settlements in their vicinity. If 

 anything was done, therefore, it was imperative that 

 it should be done immediately. Having ascertained, 

 that my friend. Rev. Josiah Phelps, Rector of St. 

 Peter's Church at Marquette, had an excellent^ instru- 

 ment, and the necessary chemicals, which, with his 

 skill, he was willing to place at my disposal, and 

 that Mr. Walter Kidder, who, like Mr, Phelps, was 

 an amateur photographer, was willing to assist in the 

 work, a programme was arranged among us to secure 

 a photographic representation of this interesting 

 structure. As a conclusion to the subject of beaver 

 dams, I propose to give some account of the manner 

 in which this enterprise was accomplished. 



At the time the photograph was taken, the Mar- 

 quette and Ontonagon Railroad, which now passes 

 within a mile of this dam, was not completed beyond 

 the Lake Superior Mine; but a very good trail had 

 recently been cut out which, passing within half a 

 mile of its site, made it comparatively easy of access. 

 It was necessary, as a preparatory measure, to cut 

 away the forest for some distance below the dam, and 

 to clear the latter of grass and weeds. The area im- 

 mediately below was heavily wooded with tamarack, 

 cedar, and spruce, interspersed with thickets of alder 

 and willow upon the lowest ground. To prepare the 

 dam for being photographed, and to arrange the sta- 

 tions for the instrument, I went in with a party of 

 men in advance, and commenced the work. Having 

 previously ascertained that the instrument would 

 take, upon a ten-inch plate, fifty feet of the dam 



