58 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



dant nearly to the limit of trees; but on his journey in 1903-4, 

 to the Great Slave Lake and Mackenzie region, he found it 

 largely gone in many parts, and nowhere common, "though 

 skins are received annually by all the posts throughout the 

 region . . . The vast region which stretches from Great 

 Slave Lake to the Rocky Mountains at present seems to be the 

 best beaver country in the north. Many skins are brought 

 from the upper reaches of Hay River by the Beaver Indians, 

 and from Trout Lake by the Indians who frequent that 

 locality. The Horn Mountain country also furnishes many 

 skins. Along my route between Great Slave and Great Bear 

 Lakes, the beaver has now become scarce, owing to constant 

 hunting, but my guide intimated that in certain localities off 

 the main route which we were following he knew of small 

 colonies of beavers. About Great Bear Lake the best beaver 

 ground seemed to be to the northward of Fort Franklin, and 

 I saw several skins, some quite dark, just brought from the 

 hunting grounds about two days' travel to the northward. 

 During the winter of 1903-4 several beavers were killed by 

 Indians in the region about Fort Simpson. In the spring the 

 animals often descend the smaller streams to the main river 

 and follow it to the mouth of the next tributary. A young one 

 was shot near the mouth of the Liard in May, and several 

 adults and young ones have been killed in recent years near 

 the mouth of Bluefish Creek, opposite Fort Simpson, as a re- 

 sult of this habit. 



"While descending the Mackenzie in the summer of 1904 I 

 saw no beavers, but obtained information regarding the traffic 

 in skins. About 700 skins were said to have been traded during 

 the preceding winter at Fort Norman, which receives the fur of 

 a very large extent of country. Skins from the country toward 

 the Barren Grounds, according to the testimony of C. P. 

 Gaudet, of that place, are smaller and average darker than 

 those from the vicinity of the post. Fort Anderson, according 

 to the fur returns, never received more than five skins annually 

 during the few years of its existence." 



In the Yukon River Valley beavers are nearly extirpated. 

 Dr. W. H. Osgood, who traversed the region in 1899, wrote 

 (1900): "It hardly seems possible that half a million or more 

 beaver skins have been secured in the Territory of Alaska. 

 The animal is now almost as rare as it is in the United States, 



