THE PERSISTENT BEAVER 55 



Every remaining colonist worked day and night 

 to build a dam on the stream just above their 

 pond. They worked like beavers. This new 

 pond caught and stopped the sediment. It was 

 apparently built for this purpose. 



The colonists who remained repaired only 

 two of the five houses, and between these they 

 piled green aspen and willow for winter food. 

 But before a tree was cut they built a dam to 

 the north of their home. Water for this was 

 obtained by a ditch or canal dug from the 

 stream at a point above the sediment-catching 

 pond. When the new pond was full, a low 

 grassy ridge about twenty feet across separated 

 it from the old one. A canal about three feet 

 wide and from one to two feet deep was cut 

 through the ridge, to connect the two ponds. 

 The aspens harvested were taken from the slope 

 of a moraine beyond the north shore of the new 

 pond. The canal and the new pond greatly 

 shortened the land distance over which the 

 trees had to be dragged, and this made har- 

 vesting safer, speedier, and easier. 



Occasionally the beavers did daytime work. 

 While on the lookout one afternoon an old 

 beaver waddled up the slope and stopped by 

 a large standing aspen that had been left by the 

 other workers. At the very bottom this tree 

 was heavily swollen. The old beaver took a 



