152 Trails to Woods and Waters 



these trees were two or two and a half feet in 

 diameter, but the guide told me that he had 

 occasionally seen trees three or four feet in 

 diameter that had fallen beneath the teeth of 

 these ambitious woodsmen. 



Further on down the valley we occasionally 

 saw a log that had lodged against some root 

 or projection in the bank. This log was on 

 its way to the dam perhaps, where it would 

 be worked into that structure, or maybe it 

 was intended for food and would be stored 

 under the ice, for use during the long winter. 



As we drifted further and further into 

 beaver-land, the wonder of it all grew upon 

 me. It did not seem so wonderful that a 

 beaver should fell one tree, or half a dozen, 

 but when I saw acres of timber nearly 

 stripped by these wonderful animals my re- 

 spect for all four-footed creatures grew. 



The five lakes that comprised beaver-land 

 were like a series of locks in a canal, each 

 lake setting back to the dam of the one above. 

 My companion told me that beaver dams were 

 usually in pairs one above the other. He 



