196 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



as to maintain a water highway at least, and forage farther and 

 farther away. Over the divide from this pond is another large one, 

 without visible outlet or inlet, where much fresh felling of aspen is 

 going on. The trail to the lower Yellowstone River traverses the 

 shores of this attractive pond. 



The Tower Creek Works. Two miles above Tower Fall, and 

 adjacent to the Creek, are some fine beaver works well worth a visit by 

 anyone interested in the subject. Here is a dam 275 feet long 

 (figure 43) making a good sized pond, which contains a dense grove 

 of large spruce killed by flooding. This pond is on the first flat or 

 terrace above the creek, and receives its water supply from a very 

 large spring a short distance above. Between this pond and the 

 spring are many small ponds, and there are more below the large 

 dam. Doubtless when the winter snows are melting and Tower 

 Creek is high, it overflows this flat and floods these ponds. There is 

 a giant beaver lodge in the midst of the heavily timbered flat (figure 

 61). 



The fact that all of the works here are on a large scale makes 

 them of especial interest. The narrow and very deep ravine running 

 nearly east and west, resulting in very different types of forest on 

 the north and south slopes, has had the effect of confining the beaver 

 cuttings to the broad aspen slope of southern exposure. Therefore 

 the beaver runways, slides and canals are especially marked and 

 elaborate there. Figure 44 shows one of the steep and wellworn 

 slides down which the beavers drag their loads of aspen from the 

 open groves above, to the nearest corner of the big pond (indicated 

 in figure 43). 



On Carnelian Creek, tributary to Tower Creek, a pretty bit of 

 engineering work was found. At a bend of the stream was a portion 

 of an old dam, extending perhaps half way across. A low extension 

 had been added to it, carrying it enough farther along to deflect 

 part of the water onto the level bank of the stream, which was quite 

 low at this place (figure 60). This water supplied a series of three 

 sizable ponds on the flat, the lowermost of which was several feet 

 above the creek level at that point. 



Lost Creek, Above the Fall. On the plateau above Camp Roose- 

 velt the beavers are very active, and their dams in all stages of con- 

 struction and disintegration indicate many years of habitation there. 

 There are three ponds now in use, one of these containing three 

 houses (figure 45) ; and some distance above is a newer group of 



