CHAPTER XV 



FAMINE IN BEAVER-LAND 



COLD weather came one fall before my 

 new beaver neighbours had laid in 

 their winter's food. They had har- 

 vested one food supply several miles down stream 

 but a fierce forest fire had devastated the region 

 while they were in the midst of their preparations 

 for winter and left their home site unliveable. 

 The beavers in a body started off to found a 

 new colony, having the hardships and adventures 

 that ever fall to pioneers. 



The place selected for their new home was on 

 a tributary stream not far from my cabin. 

 Here they built a typical house of sticks, sod, and 

 mud. The stream ran through an old glacier 

 meadow partly overgrown with forest. One 

 side carried a belt of pines. Beyond the pines 

 was a ragged and extensive growth of quaking 

 aspen. Up stream the mountain rose steeply 

 to the summit of Mt. Meeker. 



While the beavers were working on a dam 

 which was to give them ample water in the pond 

 to prevent its freezing to the bottom, a trapper 



*! 



