34 RED RIVER. 



sufficient in the natural history of the beaver to excite our wonder and 

 admiration. For instance, at this place, upon an examination of the 

 dam they have constructed, I was both astonished and delighted at the 

 wonderful sagacity, skill, and perseverance which they have displayed. 

 In the selection of a suitable sight, and in the erection of the structure, 

 they appear to have been guided by something more than mere animal 

 instinct, and have exhibited as correct a knowledge of hydrostatics, and 

 the action of forces resulting from currents of water, as the most scien- 

 tific millwright would have done. Having chosen a spot where the 

 banks on each side of the creek were narrow and sufficiently high to 

 raise a head of about five feet, they selected two cotton-wood trees about 

 fifteen inches in diameter, situated above this point, and having an in- 

 clination towards the stream : these they cut down with their teeth, (as 

 the marks upon the stumps plainly showed,) and, floating them down to 

 the position chosen for the dam, they were placed across the stream 

 with an inclination downward, uniting in the centre. This formed the 

 foundation upon which the superstructure of brush and earth was placed, 

 in precisely the same manner as a brush dam is made by our mill- 

 wrights, with the bushes and earth alternating and packed closely, the 

 butts in all cases turned down the stream. After this is raised to a 

 sufficient height, the top is covered with earth, except in the centre, 

 where there is a sluice or waste-wier, which lets off the superfluous water 

 when it rises so high as to endanger the structure. In examining the 

 results of the labors of these ingenious quadrupeds, it occurred to me 

 that the plan of erecting our brush dams must have been originally 

 suggested from witnessing those of the beavers, as they are very similar. 

 I watched for some time upon the banks of the pond, but could see 

 none of the animals. I presume they think we make too much noise 

 in our camp to suit them, and deem it most prudent to remain concealed 

 in their sub-marine houses. 



I observed one place above the pond where they had commenced 

 another dam, and had progressed so far as to cut down two trees on 

 opposite sides of the creek ; but as they did not fall in the right direction 

 to suit their purposes, the work was abandoned. As the course of Sweet- 

 water creek turns too much to the north above here, we shall leave it ; 

 and it is with much regret that we are obliged to do so, as it has 

 afforded us the best of spring water, with good grass and wood, for five 

 days. 



June 13. — Leaving the command this morning encamped upon 

 Sweet-water creek, I made a trip to Red river, which is about six miles 

 in a southwest direction ; it was one hundred yards wide where we 



