where beaver-dams have accumulated deposits 

 of greater or less extent than those on the Grand 

 River. 



Only a few beaver remain, and though much 

 of their work will endure to serve mankind, in 

 many places their old work is gone or is going 

 to ruin for the want of attention. We are paying 

 dearly for the thoughtless and almost complete 

 destruction of this animal. A live beaver is far 

 more valuable to us than a dead one. Soil is 

 eroding away, river-channels are filling, and most 

 of the streams in the United States fluctuate be- 

 tween flood and low water. A beaver colony at 

 the source of every stream would moderate these 

 extremes and add to the picturesqueness and 

 beauty of many scenes that are now growing 

 ugly with erosion. We need to cooperate with 

 the beaver. He would assist the work of recla- 

 mation, and be of great service in maintaining 

 the deep-waterways. I trust he will be assisted 

 in colonizing our National Forests, and allowed 

 to cut timber there without a permit. 



The beaver is the Abou-ben-Adhem of the 

 wild. May his tribe increase. 



