78 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Indian trappers from the Willamette had already visited the 

 river and taken all the beavers. Even down to 1860, Lord, 

 traveling along the headwaters of the Deschutes River, re- 

 ported beavers abundant there. Beavers were gradually re- 

 duced in number over all this region. Even "at their lowest 

 ebb a few remained in the larger rivers, however, and during 

 the past quarter century under the awakened interest in wild- 

 life and the most rigid legal protection that could be given 

 them in an area of extensive wilderness, they have come back 

 to some of their old haunts and increased locally until they 

 now may be found in many of the streams and lakes of the 

 State. In fact, they are apparently more common now in the 

 Grand Ronde and Walla Walla Valleys than they were a 

 hundred years ago when these valleys were occupied by settle- 

 ments of Indians who depended largely on the native animals 

 for food and clothing." In recent years they are reported as 

 more or less common in a number of counties both east and 

 west of the Cascade Mountains. 



The district forester for Oregon reported in 1930 that the 

 law providing an open season on beavers had proved to be a 

 mistake. The eagerness of trappers to be first in the field had 

 resulted in the greater part of the catch being taken before 

 the fur was prime, while at the same time the number of 

 beavers had been very greatly reduced. The effect of their 

 dams in storing and holding back water during dry seasons was 

 gone, with much resulting loss. Another observer in 1931 

 states that "the removal of beaver has been a large factor in 

 the shortage of water during the drought through which we 

 are passing. Streams have dried up below former beaver dams 

 to an alarming extent and water for stock has been reduced." 

 On a stream where previous to the advent of beavers in 1920 

 even a bridge was unnecessary, their dams had since increased 

 so that in the 1931 drought, the driest season on record, "water 

 was plentiful for a distance of a quarter of a mile below the 

 beaver dams . . . and at least 20 acres of land that were 

 dry in the very wet season of 1914 are kept fairly moist." 

 Such observations indicate the value of beavers in water 

 storage at the heads of streams during critical seasons. 



In southern British Columbia beavers, though "fast disap- 

 pearing" 40 years ago, are still found in small numbers in 

 remoter districts. 



