240 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. 



rarely used in the beaver hunt. West of the Rocky 

 Mountains, however, where the ponds are shallow and 

 small, and the danger of losing the animal after being 

 caught in a trap is greater, the gun is often used. 

 Robert Meldrum, for many years a trapper in this 

 mountain region, and now one of the factors of the 

 American Fur Company, informed me that when he 

 hunted beaver west of the mountains he preferred the 

 gun for the reasons stated. He mentioned that on one 

 occasion he found three lodges on a pond upon one of 

 the tributaries of the Columbia, where he "shot 

 twenty-one beavers and left three." His estimate of 

 the total number was upon the assumption of eight to 

 a lodge, the well-known rule among Rocky Mountain 

 trappers. It is amusing to find how systematic this 

 class of men become in their calculations. 



Trappers often associate for the purpose of extend- 

 ing their operations over a larger area, in which case 

 they establish and provision camps, and assign the 

 several branches of the work to different persons. 

 When two or more are engaged in the same vicinity, 

 and not associated, they adopt certain independent 

 lines or routes, so that neither may interfere with the 

 other. It is a custom among the trappers of the 

 Rocky Mountains to recognize in each other proprie- 

 tary rights in certain beaver districts. When a trap- 

 per finds a new stream well stocked with fur-bearing 

 animals, it takes his name, and is regarded as his ex- 

 clusive range so long as he chooses to occupy it. 

 Among such of the Ojibwa Indians on Lake Superior 

 as engage in trapping, there is a similar custom. 

 They divide the principal districts among themselves, 

 after which each leaves to the others the undisturbed 



