204 THE AMERICAN" BEAVER. 



which the water passes when the meadows are over- 

 flowed. A beaver meadow, therefore, may be likened 

 to the face of a waffle-h^on — the raised eminences of 

 which represent the hummocks of grass, and the in- 

 dentations the depressions around them for the pas- 

 sage of water. In Plates IX. and XXII., which are 

 engraved from photographs, a small portion of the 

 beaver meadows are shown. 



The amount of lands in a beaver district thus 

 turned into meadows is large, when the conditions 

 under which they are produced are considered. On 

 the Carp and Esconauba Rivers, within the area of 

 the map, there are about ninety acres, in the aggre- 

 gate, of beaver meadows; the situation and bound- 

 aries of which are indicated by dotted lines. There 

 are other districts, particularly on the main branch of 

 the Esconauba, where the amount is much larger. 

 These meadows are very common in the vicinity of 

 beaver dams. When iron mining operations were 

 first commenced in the Lake Superior region, the 

 grass upon these meadows was the main reliance of 

 the miners for hay for their winter stock. In 1865, 

 Captain Johnson, superintendent of the Lake Supe- 

 rior Mine, cut fifty tons of hay upon a single beaver 

 meadow on the main branch of the Esconauba. 



In addition to the nutriment which the roots of 

 these grasses afford to the beavers, the meadows them- 

 selves are clearings in the wilderness, by means of 

 which the light, as well as the heat of the sun, is let 

 in upon their lodges. 



Beaver trails are quite numerous, as well as con- 

 spicuous, along the margins of their ponds. They 

 show their run-ways back into the woods, and the 



