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drought had so afflicted these colonies that in 

 only one had any of the harvest been gathered. 

 This one I called the Cascade Colony. It was 

 the uppermost of the three that were dependent 

 upon this one stream. Among the five colonies 

 that I observed that autumn, this one had the 

 most desperate and tragic experience. 



Toward the close of September the colonists 

 in each of the five colonies gave most of their 

 attention to the condition of their dam. Every 

 leak was stopped, and its water face was given 

 a thick covering of mud, most of which was 

 dredged from the bottom of the pond. 



The beaver is intimately associated with 

 water. He is not a landsman, and only neces- 

 sity will cause him to go far from the water. 

 The water in a main beaver pond is usually three 

 or more feet deep, a depth needed all the year 

 around. Where nature has provided a place of 

 this kind that is close to his food-supply, the 

 beaver uses it; he will not trouble to build a dam 

 and form a pond of deep water unless this is 

 necessary. But deep water he must have; to 

 him it is a daily necessity in getting a living, 



250 



