CASTOR FIBER CANADENSIS. l57 



course of our journey we saw several heaver signs, as they are 

 termed b)' the hunters. The Beaver has been so much harassed 

 in this State, that it has ceased makinj^ dams, and contents itself 

 with making- large excavations in the banks of streams. Within 

 the past year, (1841,) they have been seen on Indian and Cedar 

 rivers, and at Paskungameh or Tupper's lake ; and although they 

 are not numerous, yet they are still found in scattered families in 

 the northern part of Hamilton, the southern part of St. Lawrence 

 and the western part of Essex counties. Through the considerate 

 attention of Mr. A. Mclntyre, those yet existing in the southern 

 part of Franklin county are carefully preserved from the avidity of 

 the hunter, and there probably the last of the species in the Atlantic 

 States will be found. We noticed the remains of an old and large 

 beaver dam at the outlet of Lake Fourth in Herkimer county, but 

 it is now nearly covered up by the drift sand from the lake " (loc. 

 cit, p. 74). 



Watson, in his History of Essex County, published in 1869, 

 says: " The Beaver was found in great abundance throughout the 

 region, by the first occupants. They no longer exist, it is be- 

 lieved, in the territory of Essex County " (p. 348). 



During the fall of 1880, a Beaver was caught on Raquette River, 

 between the Upper Saranac and Big Tupper's Lake, and about a 

 mile below the " Sweeney carry." The skin was stuffed and pre- 

 served by the hunter who captured the animal. vSubsequent to 

 this date, saplings were cut in the neighborhood, showing that 

 another was at work there. I have myself examined the locality 

 and brought away a number of cuttings. They consist of young 

 poplars {^PopuliLS tremuloides) averaging from two to four inches 

 (50 to 100 mm.) in diameter ; the largest measured fourteen inches 

 (355 mm.) in circumference. 



At present there is a small colony of Beavers on a stream that 

 empties into the West Branch of the St. Regis River. It is prob- 

 ably the colony referred to by DeKay, in 1842, as "yet existing in 



