THE TOWN OF EAST CHESTER. 25 1 



carry the mill throughout the year, which enables it to grind at all sea- 

 sons. 



The course of the Bronx immediately below the mill is said to have 

 been formerly changed by a large beaver dam, which those industrious 

 animals had erected near the foot of Mr. Underbill's garden. Beaver 

 Pond lies directly north of the mill. Beavers were once very common 

 on the Bronx and neighboring streams, and afford an excellent example 

 of animals not only sociable by dwelling near each other, but by joining 

 in a work which was for the benefit of the community. Water was as 

 needful for the Beaver as for the miller; and it is a very curious fact that 

 long before miller's ever invented dams, or before men ever learned to 

 grind corn, the beaver knew how to make a dam and to insure itself a 

 constant supply of water. The dam was by no means placed at random 

 in the stream, just where a few logs may have happened to lodge — but 

 it was set exactly where it was wanted, and it was made so as to suit 

 the force of the current ; in those places where the stream runs slowly 

 the dam was carried straight across the river, but in those where the 

 water had much power the barrier was made in a convex shape so as to 

 resist the force of the rushing water. The power of the stream could, 

 therefore, always be inferred from the shape of the dam which the beav- 

 ers had built across it. Some of these structures were of great size, 

 measuring two or three hundred yards in length and ten or twelve 

 feet in thickness, and their form exactly corresponded with the force 

 of the stream. They made their houses close to the water and 

 communicated with them by means of subterranean passages, one 

 entrance of which passed into the house, or lodge — as it was techni- 

 cally named — and the other into the water, so far below the sur- 

 face that it could not be closed by ice. The " lodges " were nearly 

 circular in form, and closely resembled the well-known snow houses of 

 the Esquimaux ; being domed, and about half as high as they were wide, 

 the average height being three feet, and the diameter six or seven feet. 

 They were so thick and well lined that, during severe frosts, they were 

 nearly as hard as solid stone."" The last beaver seen in this vicinity 

 was in the summer of 1790. 



Vast quantities of trout, roach, suckers and other fresh water fish, are 

 bred yearly in the Bronx. 



In 1825 Canvas White, Esq., engineer, employed by the New York 



Water Works' Company, reported to the directors of that corporation, 



that he would recommend taking the waters of the Bronx at Underbill's 



Bridge, estimating that 9,100,000 gallons of water might be delivered in 



a Harper's New Monthly Magazine. 



