226 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. 



from showing themselves that night near the dam. By 

 cutting their dams and lowering their ponds, they are 

 easily compelled to come out of their lodges to dis- 

 cover the cause. But it is not as easy to witness, 

 undiscovered, the process of their repair. When a 

 branch of the Marquette and Ontonagon Railroad 

 was extended to the Esconauba River, in 1862, 

 dams number 11 and 12 were cut through, and 

 abandoned in consequence by their proprietors. Two 

 years afterward, this end of the road being disused, a 

 pair of beavers returned to the lower pond and re- 

 paired the dam. With the hope of witnessing the 

 process of repairing a dam, several large openings 

 were made in it to draw off a part of the water; a 

 scaffold was erected in one of the trees overlooking 

 these breaches, and at nightfall my friend Johnson 

 and myself were established in this lookout for the 

 night. About one o'clock, two beavers came down 

 together to ascertain the cause of the lowering of their 

 pond, and to repair the mischief; but they discovered 

 us in our imperfect concealment, when within a few 

 feet of the dam, and avoided coming any nearer. 

 They remained swimming about the pond, with a part 

 of their heads above the water, for about an hour, and 

 being afraid to undertake the work, they then retired. 

 In the clear atmosphere of this region you can almost 

 read print by the light of the moon. The ripples in 

 the water, made by the beavers, were seen by us before 

 the animals themselves were discerned. These two 

 were probably the sole occupants of the pond, where 

 they had shortly before established themselves for the 

 winter. Their presence also tends to show that they 

 live in pairs and families, and not in colonies or com- 

 munities. 



