THE LODGE 63 
level. This latter was about a foot above the pond bottom, 
and eighteen inches below the chamber floor. No doubt it 
was under water when the pond was filled, so could not serve 
any of the purposes Dugmore mentions (Figs. 27, 28 and 29). 
The entrance by which I gained access to the interior was 
forty-two inches wide—wider than many a front door in 
our own houses. Why it had such a width I do not know, 
but it showed no evidence of having been widened by any 
animal intruder. On either side of and above it could be 
seen the ends of the sticks of which the house was built, 
all showing the marks of the builders’ teeth made in cutting 
them off. These sticks were from less than an inch up to 
over three inches in diameter, and many appeared to have 
had the bark eaten from them before being used as building 
material. Thus they served a double purpose. 
The first floor was two feet wide and four feet long. The 
living-room was of a somewhat triangular shape, six feet in 
its greatest length and width, and eighteen inches high. It 
also showed the cut-off ends of sticks all about its interior, 
with mud between them. The occupants had either dis- 
pensed with bedding or taken it with them when they moved. 
None was found. Flash powder was burned in an attempt 
to photograph the interior, and the smoke poured freely 
from the top, showing good ventilation, no doubt better 
than when the house was surrounded by water, cutting off 
the draft. A beaver has low respiration and circulation, 
and does not need as much air as some other animals. 
The chamber was of such size that a man could get into 
it, and did. In fact, two of us did so. It was said that 
John Colter, the first white man to visit the Yellowstone 
Park, was once pursued by Indians, and escaped by diving 
into the water and entering a beaver lodge. The house just 
described shows that the story is not improbable, and it was 
not an unusually large house. 
