BEAVERS—THEIR WAYS. 73 
wonderful sight—a beaver dam built entirely with coal. 
Upon inspection the breast was about six feet high and 
built up as if done with the assistance of a hammer 
and trowel. They had dug their coal from a nearby 
bluff but in what manner or method they used instead 
of blasting to get the coal in chunks that they could 
handle in their building of the dams, the surveyor could 
not determine from the situation as presented. He 
found three or four in succession, and all taking their 
water from a small volcanic appearing spring. The 
beavers had made a little oasis in the desert—for about 
the dams was the only vegetation in sight—and it wasa 
beautiful contrast to the surrounding desolate looking 
mounds of fantastic shapes and variegated hues. The 
beavers in their flight from their former home had evi- 
dently sought for the most inaccessible place for a safe 
retreat that could be imagined, but even here man had 
spied them out. But the man in this case appreciated 
their kindness for the service they had rendered him, 
and pity for their helplessness in being forced to seek 
this out of the way refuge to save their lives from 
the harm of the wanton. 
Surveyor Harold afterward wrote some account of 
this hermit colony to the editor of the Washburn Lead- 
er a part of which was published in the autumn of 1899. 
Shortly after its publication a trapper in Bismarck—a 
Canadian Frenchman—called on the surveyor for a de- 
scription of the locality of the beaver. Mr. Harold 
asked the trapper why his inquisitiveness—as beavers 
were protected by law—and he was a friend of that law 
and a friend of the beavers. 
‘‘Taw—what I care for law’ 
’ 
replied the old smear 
