BEAVERS—THEIR WAYS 25 
the Missouri’s waters. 
As far back in the past as could be learned of Knife 
River it was always known for its numerous beaver hab- 
itations and dams, more especially the upper branches 
or tributaries. The bends of the stream were for the 
most part covered with groves of ash and boxelder 
that was protected from devastating fire by the dams 
backing up the water about the groves so that the soil 
thereabout was soft and spongy, and thus was saved 
from ignition by grass fires that annually swept down 
from the neighboring prairie. 
From the proximity of Knife River to old forts Clark 
and Berthold, this stream was frequented by hostile 
bands who found good hiding places and a base from 
which to make forays on the Indian villages located at 
these points. This circumstance saved the beaver from 
molestation by trappers, who, while very reckless as to 
chances, considered the odds too great on Knite River 
from the red man’s scalping knife. Jefferson Smith 
was one of the last of the old free trappers who bothered 
beaver on this waterway up to the building of the 
Northern Pacific railroad to the Missouri river. From 
that time forward they had but little rest until virtually 
exterminated some ten years later. In the autumn of 
1874, ‘‘Buck” Raney accompanied the writer on an 
otter trapping trip up Knife River. It was during the 
month of November and a heavy freeze coming on at 
this time drove the otters to sleep, we departed with- 
out disturbing the beavers who had dams along the 
stream every few hundred yards for a distance of per- 
haps fifteen miles, from which point we returned with 
