62 THE STORY OF THE BEAVER. 



charged much of the debasement of the Indian tribes of the Northwest terri^ 

 tory through the use of hquor. 



The Indians had a greater regard for the beaver than they did for any 

 other fur-bearing animal, and ahhoiigh they hunted and trapped them and 

 sold their skins for gew-gaws, baubles and firewater, the little animals were 

 associated with many Indian traditions and legends. 



The very large beavers inspired both reverence and fear in the hearts of 

 some of the tribes. I remember having heard my father tell a. story of an 

 Indian who' accompanied one of his expeditions which illustrates the foregoing 

 remark. The Indian was out quite late one night setting the traps. In order 

 to get back to camp he had toi row across a lake. When he arrived on the 

 shore where my father had made camp he was badly frightened, and made no 

 attempt to conceal his fear. When questioned, he said that out in the middle 

 of the lake an enormous beaver had swum right by his canoe. He declared 

 that it was as big as a deer and that it could swim as fast as an arrow could fly. 



He was asked why he did not try tO' kill it, and frankly replied that lie 

 was afraid, because he believed that the spirit of Kitchi Manitou (the Indians' 

 God) dwelt in all of these big beavers. 



My father had nO' such superstitious fear, and he was rejoiced the next 

 morning tO' find a beaver of tremendous size (although much smaller than 

 the Indian had described) in one of the traps. He proved to be the father of 

 a big beaver village nearby and his skin brought more than twice as much as 

 that of an ordinary beaver. 



Beaver skins were worth at that time about seven dollars a pound, and as 

 each skin weighed something over two- pounds the trapper could average 

 about fifteen Hollars per skin. 



