60 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 
that is to say, about sixty-six inches in circumfer- 
ence, a tree large enough to give an amateur axe- 
man a lot of trouble. There are accounts of still 
larger trees being brought down by the industrious 
little woodsmen. Lewis and Clarke mention having 
found trunks which measured nearly three feet in 
diameter, and Mills says: ‘‘ The largest beaver-cut 
stump that I have ever measured was on the 
Jefferson River, in Montana, near the mouth of 
Pipestone Creek. This was three feet six inches in 
diameter.” He omits to mention the species of 
tree, but it was probably a cotton-wood, as it is 
impossible to imagine the animals attempting to 
cut anything harder when the immense size is 
considered. A tree having a circumference of 
approximately 126 inches must offer almost insur- 
mountable difficulties, but, when successfully felled, 
the animals would at least experience the satisfaction 
of having a very liberal supply of food, enough 
perhaps to last a family all winter. Trees of these 
sizes are of course exceptional ; the usual size ranges 
from four to ten or twelve inches in diameter. These 
are more convenient to handle, and in the end offer 
a more economical undertaking, as they can be cut 
up and every part, including trunk and branches, 
can be used, whereas if the trunk is too large, they 
never attempt to cut it into short lengths suitable 
for transporting to the food pile. Seldom indeed 
do they divide a trunk having a maximum diameter 
of more than eight or nine inches. Even this size 
