60 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 



that is to say, about sixty-six inches in circumfer- 

 ence, a tree large enough to give an amateur axe- 

 man a lot of trouble. There are accounts of still 

 larger trees being brought down by the industrious 

 little woodsmen. Lewis and Clarke mention having 

 found trunks which measured nearly three feet in 

 diameter, and Mills says : " The largest beaver-cut 

 stump that I have ever measured was on the 

 Jefferson River, in Montana, near the mouth of 

 Pipestone Creek. This was three feet six inches in 

 diameter." He omits to mention the species of 

 tree, but it was probably a cotton- wood, as it is 

 impossible to imagine the animals attempting to 

 cut anything harder when the immense size is 

 considered. A tree having a circumference of 

 approximately 126 inches must offer almost insur- 

 mountable difficulties, but, when successfully felled, 

 the animals would at least experience the satisfaction 

 of having a very liberal supply of food, enough 

 perhaps to last a family all winter. Trees of these 

 sizes are of course exceptional ; the usual size ranges 

 from four to ten or twelve inches in diameter. These 

 are more convenient to handle, and in the end offer 

 a more economical undertaking, as they can be cut 

 up and every part, including trunk and branches, 

 can be used, whereas if the trunk is too large, they 

 never attempt to cut it into short lengths suitable 

 for transporting to the food pile. Seldom indeed 

 do they divide a trunk having a maximum diameter 

 of more than eight or nine inches. Even this size 



