TWENTY YEARS IN THE ROCKIES. 6l 



cut down by beavers. During such work the superintendent 

 takes his stand, while the workmen, one after another, begin 

 to gnaw around the tree. As many as can work comfortably 

 at a time continue until the job is finished. When the tree 

 is about to fall, the superintendent gives the signal and all 

 run to the water. After the tree has fallen, another call is 

 given and all proceed to cut limbs great and small. The 

 precision with which they fell a tree, either to make a dam 

 or turn a stream is wonderful. 



Often for some unknown reason, a beaver will leave 

 the colony, burrow a hole in a bank and live a regular her- 

 mit's life, having nothing to do with his fellows. These 

 are called bachelor beavers by old trappers. A large beaver 

 will weigh seventy pounds. The outer or guard hair is red- 

 dish and coarse, with a thick velvety fur underneath, which 

 keeps the water away from the bodies. The female bears 

 from two to six youngsters in the spring. These little fel- 

 lows are very busy people, cutting and carrying everything 

 that comes in their way. In point of instinct no animal is 

 superior to the beaver. His feet adapt him to all kinds of 

 building, the hind ones being webbed. This enables them 

 to stand easily in soft mud, and gives them power in swim- 

 ming. The fore feet have no webs, being designed for con- 

 structing dams and pushing sticks into the earth. The tail 

 is flat and used as a trowel, a hod, and as a rudder. 



We left this lovely valley which had afforded us such 

 a rest and bountiful supply of game and fish,, moving north. 

 We bade farewell to Wyoming and its rich pastures, its 

 buffaloes, elks and deer, and entered the cloud-capped 

 reaches of Montana, whose clear, cold streams and majestic 

 mountains, clothed in perpetual snows, stand out in bold re- 

 lief against the azure sky. After a weary journey, we land- 

 ed on the Little Horn River, and arranged for a three-days' 

 rest on the last battlefield of the lamented Custer. 



