50 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 
The Broken Tree colonists continued the 
harvest by cutting the scattered aspens along 
the stream above the pond. A few were cut a 
quarter of a mile up stream. Before these 
could be floated down into the pond it was nec- 
essary to break a jam of limbs and old trees 
that had collected against a boulder. The 
beaver gnawed a hole through the jam. One 
day a harvester who ventured far up a shallow 
brook was captured by a grizzly bear. During 
this unfortunate autumn it is probable that 
others were lost besides these mentioned. Har- 
vest-getting ended by the pond and the stream 
freezing over. It is probable that the colonists 
had to live on short rations that winter. 
One winter day a beaver came swimming 
down into the safety pond. I watched him 
through the ice. He dislodged a small piece of 
aspen from the pile in the bottom of the pond 
and with it went swimming up stream beneath 
the ice. At the bottom of the icy falls I found 
a number of aspen cuttings with the bark eaten 
off. While examining these, I discovered a hole 
or passageway at the bottom of the falls. This 
tunnel extended through the earth into the 
pond above. This underground portage route 
enabled the beavers to reach their supplies 
down stream. 
The fire had killed a number of tall spruces 
