72 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



white man excepting those just alluded to, not even the 

 track of a wagon, since leaving Battle Creek, in Madison 

 county. There were abundant signs of beaver all along 

 the creek, but we saw none of the beaver themselves at 

 that time. There were trees that had been cut down by them 

 some years before, some of which we used for camp fires, 

 and there were numerous fresh cuttings of little willow and 

 cottonwood trees which the beaver had drawn into the water 

 and there eaten the bark. It is said that the beaver, when 

 taking his meals, always sits with the hind parts in the 

 water and while this statement is probably incorrect, he no 

 doubt takes his food in or near the water. 



They live mostly on the bark of trees, such as cotton- 

 wood, willow and poplar where it can be had. They also 

 eat the coarse grass that grows in low grounds and swampy 

 places along the streams. In one place in Oregon many 

 years ago, while out hunting, I found a grove of little pop- 

 lar trees, situated about twenty rods from the banks of 

 a small river. Here the beaver worked at night, as is their 

 custom. They had cut down many of these trees which 

 were from two to three up to five or six inches through, and 

 had then cut them up into lengths from a foot or so, to four 

 or five feet long, according to the size, and then had drawn 

 the most of them to the river where the bark had been eaten 

 off. There was certainly a wagon load of these sticks in 

 a bend of the river where it was still water, nearly all of 

 which were without the bark, while in the grove were a 

 dozen or more sticks just freshly cut, and all ready to be 

 taken to the river, and there were also several sticks partly 

 cut off and two or three trees partly cut down, but in no 

 case was the bark eaten off except from those at or in the 

 river. I have also seen one place on Beaver creek in Wheel- 

 er county, Nebraska, where there was a beaver dam and 

 pond that apparently held a large colony of beaver. There 

 was no timber at all here, excepting some small brush, but 



