of 



trappers; more than one hundred pelts were 

 secured, and the colony was left in ruins and 

 almost depopulated. 



The Moraine Colony site was deserted for a 

 long time. Eight years after the fire I returned 

 to examine it. The willow growth about the 

 ruins was almost as thrifty as when the fire 

 came. A growth of aspen taller than one's head 

 clung to the old shore-lines, while a close seed- 

 ling growth of lodge-pole pine throve in the 

 ashes of the old forest. One low mound, merry 

 with blooming columbine, was the only house 

 ruin to be seen. 



The ponds were empty and every dam was 

 broken. The stream, in rushing unobstructed 

 through the ruins, had eroded deeply. This 

 erosion revealed the records of ages, and showed 

 that the old main dam had been built on the 

 top of an older dam and a sediment- filled pond. 

 The second dam was on top of an older one still. 

 In the sediment of 'the oldest the bottom 

 pond I found a spear-head, two charred logs, 

 and the skull of a buffalo. Colonies of beaver, 

 as well as those of men, are often found upon 



32 



