mouth, and encountered seven beaver 

 dams and as many houses. At one of 

 these dams we found the white capped 

 Chief working with some younger bea- 

 vers. Our guess was, that some of these 

 were his own offspring to whom he was 

 giving instruction in engineering prac- 

 tice. 



A year later, on Fishing Brook, twenty 

 miles to the north-east, and fully fifty 

 miles from the original colony on the 

 Raquette tributary, we found several 

 beaver colonies. They also settled on 

 Minnow Brook. On Salmon River, 

 from its mouth to Salmon Pond (which 

 it drains), a distance of six miles, there 

 is now a beaver dam every half mile. 

 At one of these dams, a few years ago, 

 we found the Chief Engineer at work. 

 The dam was placed where the current 

 was swift, and a big rock in mid stream 

 was utilized as a pier, against which the 

 two sections of the dam were braced. 

 Such an adaptation of available means 

 to accomplish a difficult engineering 



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