148 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 
“The slide, which was 300 feet wide and 30 feet 
deep, was caused by the bursting of an old beaver 
dam high up in the mountains. District Supt. 
MacKay, at Revelstoke, says that the dam burst 
under the pressure of heavy rain storms last week. 
The slide carried the track away completely and it 
went clear across the Kicking Horse River,damming 
that stream and endangering the track above the 
slide. The river was completely blocked up, and it 
was found necessary to blast a new channel for the 
stream to release the pent-up waters which threat- 
ened to cause a washout further east. 
“The Canadian Pacific Railway had two steam 
shovels and a hundred men at work. Huge trees 
were brought down with the slide and boulders 
nearly as big as a box car made the job of clearing 
the track a difficult one. Some of the trees that 
came down bore the marks of the little animals’ 
teeth, and the supports of the dam erected by the 
beavers were plainly marked as such by the bleach- 
ing of their upper ends and the lower points coated 
with mud and slime. 
“Those of the delayed westbound passengers who 
arrived this morning expressed themselves as very 
well satisfied with the manner in which they were 
treated by the company. 
“Fourteen trains, east and west-bound, were 
stalled by the slide. Some of the passengers were 
transferred across the wash slide over a narrow foot- 
bridge, and others who were bound east were routed 
