130 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. 



of the earth from a point so near would seem to en- 

 danger the work, and to be for this reason improbable. 

 Taken as a whole, and as a beaver structure, it is an 

 extraordinary piece of animal mechanism, whether 

 considered with reference to its great length, the 

 amount of materials it contains, or its artistic ap- 

 pearance. It has undoubtedly been built uj)on and 

 repaired year after year until it reached its present 

 dimensions; and it is not in the least improbable that 

 it has existed and been continued for centuries. 



There are other districts in North America where 

 beaver dams are not less numerous than in the regions 

 bordering upon Lake Superior. Along the Rocky 

 Mountain chain, for a distance of more than two 

 thousand miles, there are particular localities, on both 

 sides of the range, where these erections are found in 

 considerable numbers. They are also numerous in 

 the streams which flow from the Wind River, the 

 Big Horn, and the Laramie Mountains, and from the 

 Bhick Hills, but they are usually small, ranging from 

 fifty to one hundred feet in length, and from two to 

 three feet high. On Eagle River and other tributa- 

 ries of the Colorado, and upon the affluents of the 

 Rio Grande, near its sources, beaver dams of consider- 

 able magnitude have been noticed by explorers. In 

 the thick wood country along Hudson's Bay, and 

 for a circuit of three hundred miles around and back 

 of its shores, they are especially numerous. From 

 general descriptions of these dams, obtained from va- 

 rious sources, and particularly from trappers, with 

 whom these several regions are familiar, it is evident 

 that they are all constructed on the same general 

 plan, and in the same manner as the varieties herein 



