88 CASTOROLOGIA. 



Incidental to the uses of the beaver we must not overlook its ser- 

 vices in preserving a water supply. "Water is as indispensable to the 

 beaver as it is to man, yet the former was better adapted to preserve 

 it, than the early settler. The dams were often a mile in length and 

 constructed to form reservoirs comparable only to great lakes, and it 

 was impossible to break away these dams without materially alter- 

 ing the local aspect. Droughts and parched lands soon followed in 

 districts where once were beautiful lakelets and abundance of veget- 

 ation. On the banks of the Rocky Mountains where now our settle- 

 ments are quickly being planted, it is reported that the beaver has 

 been protected expressly to preserve the water supply. 



"Where beaver colonies had lived for many years undisturbed, 

 the shallow waters above the dam became gradually overgrown with 

 vegetation, and this with the accumulation of chips, branches, leaves 

 and other vegetable refuse, has given us many a rich acre. It is an 

 interesting fact of local history, that the name of the Indian village 

 which occupied the present site of the city of Montreal, is equivalent 

 to the English " Beaver Meadow," while, both in the eastern and 

 western suburbs of Montreal, the evidences of beaver meadows are 

 unmistakable, and where now is the busy thoroughfare known as 

 Craig street, once was the beaver canal. 



Indeed, it is not asserting too much for the past greatness of the 

 beaver trade, to say, that where the early traders halted and built 

 their trading posts or forts, there civilization has progressed, and 

 thus unconsciously, the foundations of our magnificent cities were 

 laid, while some can claim a gradual development, direct from the 

 early beaver colony. 



