CHAPTER VII. 



BEAVER CANALS, MEADOWS, AND TRAILS. 



Beaver Canals — Their Extraordinary Character — Originated by Necessity — 

 Their Uses — Evidences of their Artificial Character — Canals at Natural 

 Pond — Their Form and Appearance — Canal on Carp River — Use of Dams 

 in same — Canal across Bend of Esconauba — Same across Island in Pond 

 — Beaver Meadows — How formed — Their Extent — Beaver Slides on 

 Upper Missouri — Scenery on this River — Bluffs of Indurated Clay — Bad 

 Lands — White Walls— Game — Connection of River Systems with Spread 

 of Beavers. 



In the excavation of artificial canals as a means for 

 transporting their wood by water to their lodges, we 

 discover, as it seems to me, the highest act of intelli- 

 gence and knowledge performed by beavers. Remark- 

 able as the dam may well be considered, from its 

 structure and objects, it scarcely surpasses, if it may 

 be said to equal, these water-ways, here called canals, 

 which are excavated through the lowlands bordering 

 their ponds for the purpose of reaching the hard wood, 

 and of affording a channel for its transportation to 

 their lodoes. To conceive and execute such a desim 

 presupposes a more complicated and extended pro- 

 cess of reasoning than that required for the construc- 

 tion of a dam; and, although a much simpler work 

 to perform, when the thought was fully developed, it 

 was far less to have been expected from a mute ani- 

 mal. 



When I first came upon these canals, and found 

 they were christened with this name both by Indians 



(191) 



