50 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 



The Broken Tree colonists continued the 

 harvest by cutting the scattered aspens along 

 the stream above the pond. A few were cut a 

 quarter of a mile up stream. Before these 

 could be floated down into the pond it was nec- 

 essary to break a jam of limbs and old trees 

 that had collected against a boulder. The 

 beaver gnawed a hole through the jam. One 

 day a harvester who ventured far up a shallow 

 brook was captured by a grizzly bear. During 

 this unfortunate autumn it is probable that 

 others were lost besides these mentioned. Har- 

 vest-getting ended by the pond and the stream 

 freezing over. It is probable that the colonists 

 had to live on short rations that winter. 



One winter day a beaver came swimming 

 down into the safety pond. I watched him 

 through the ice. He dislodged a small piece of 

 aspen from the pile in the bottom of the pond 

 and with it went swimming up stream beneath 

 the ice. At the bottom of the icy falls I found 

 a number of aspen cuttings with the bark eaten 

 off. While examining these, I discovered a hole 

 or passageway at the bottom of the falls. This 

 tunnel extended through the earth into the 

 pond above. This underground portage route 

 enabled the beavers to reach their supplies 

 down stream. 



The fire had killed a number of tall spruces 



