am 



of beaver ponds graced Amer- 

 ica's wild gardens at the time the first 

 settlers came. These ragged and poetic ponds 

 varied in length from a few feet to one mile, and 

 in area they were from one hundred acres down 

 to a miniature pond that half a dozen merry child- 

 ren might encircle. These ponds were formed by 

 dams built by beaver, and the dams varied greatly 

 in size and were made of poles variously combined 

 with sticks, stones, trash, rushes, and earth. 



In the Bad Lands of Dakota I saw two dams 

 that were made of chunks of coal. This material 

 had caved from a near-by bluff. I have noticed a 

 few that were constructed of cobble-stones. The 

 water-front of these dams was filled and covered 

 with clay, and they were the work of "grass 

 beavers," beaver that subsist chiefly on grass, 

 and that live in localities almost destitute of 

 trees. 



It is doubtful if a dam is ever made by felling 

 65 



