RETURN OF THE BEAVER TO THE ADIRONDACKS 



The beaver has been restored to his favorite haunts, the Adiron- 

 dacks, by means of restocking and effective protection, according 

 to the reports of systematic observations of protectors and others 

 received by the Conservation Commission. These investigations 

 show that there are to-day between 1,500 and 2,000 beaver in the 

 wilds, which the Iroquois Indians called " Koh-sa-ra-ga," " The 

 Beaver-Hunting-Country," and whose ownership was challenged 

 by the Canadian tribe, styled in derision by the Mohawks, the 

 "Adirondacks," the " Tree Eaters." 



The Adirondacks to-day are again entitled to their old Iroquois 

 name, for they are rapidly becoming the country of the Beaver, 

 although this favorite fur bearing animal is no longer persecuted 

 by the trapper and hunter. 



The Legislature of 1903 appropriated $500 to begin the re- 

 stocking of the Adirondacks with beaver and in 1905 three pairs 

 were liberated. One pair were given their liberty on a small 

 stream entering the south branch of Moose river, where another 

 beaver which had escaped from the Woodruff preserve had built 

 a dam. The other four were liberated on the northeast inlet of 

 Big Moose Lake, but moved over into Beaver river, twenty miles 

 to the northeast, to begin housekeeping. During 1905 Edward 

 H. Litchfield liberated about a dozen beavers in his preserve near 

 Big Tupper Lake, and several of these escaped into adjoining 

 preserves. 



In 1905 there was reported to the Fish and Game Commission 

 the existence of a " small native colony of beavers, the last of the 

 remnants of the original stock, inhabiting the waters northwest 

 of upper Saranac Lake.'' That year the Commission placed a 

 " conservative estimate of the beaver in the Adirondacks " at 

 " about forty." 



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