of the earth, that otherwise would be washed 

 away and lost, — washed away into the rivers 

 and harbors, impeding navigation and increasing 

 river and harbor bills. 



There is an old Indian legend which says that 

 after the Creator separated the land from the 

 water he employed gigantic beavers to smooth it 

 down and prepare it for the abode of man. This 

 is appreciative and suggestive. Beaver-dams have 

 had much to do with the shaping and creating 

 of a great deal of the richest agricultural land in 

 America. To-day there are many peaceful and 

 productive valleys the soil of which has been 

 accumulated and fixed in place by ages of engin- 

 eering activities on the part of the beaver before 

 the white man came. On both mountain and plain 

 you may still see much of this good work ac- 

 complished by them. In the mountains, deep 

 and almost useless gulches have been filled by 

 beaver-dams with sediment, and in course of 

 time changed to meadows. So far as I know, 

 the upper course of every river in the Rockies 

 is through a number of beaver-meadows, some of 

 them acres in extent. 



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