414 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONER. 



the ponds and rivers of the Adirondacks, I hurried up from New York to 

 join the party of guides who had volunteered to liberate the first beavers 

 released by the State. 



Releasing fl)e Reavers 



On April 2 7 , four of us* left Old Forge in two row boats for the head of 

 Fourth Lake of the Fulton Chain, a distance of twelve miles, carrying with 

 us two beavers in a zinc-lined crate, f We stopped over night at Cedar 

 Island Camp, in Fourth Lake, and the next morning were joined by Eri 

 Delmarsh, one of the proprietors, and at Inlet (the head of the lake) by 

 E. Van Arnam, another active member of the Guides' Association. 



From Inlet we carried the beavers twelve miles by trail, over hills, 

 through swamps and across rivers, to the lone log cabin of Frank Gray, a 

 hermit living on the South Fork of Moose River. The crate being a very 

 ungainly thing to handle over the rough ground traversed (part of the way 

 through snow) , we all took turns in carrying it — ten-minute shifts being 

 the rule. 



We lodged for the night at Gray's cabin, and early the next morning 

 (April 29, 1905) carried the two beavers to a point on the small stream, 

 previously mentioned, to which the beaver that had escaped from Mr. 

 Woodruff had made his way. J At this point he had built a dam and felled 

 a number of trees; and here we released the two beavers, hoping that they 

 might find the solitary, and combine forces with him. This they probably 



* The members of this party, besides the writer, were Frank and Ben Sperry and Stanley Weed- 

 mark. At Cedar Island Camp we were joined by Eri Delmarsh, and at Inlet by E. Van Arnam. 

 All of these men are active members of the Brown's Tract Guides' Association. Ours were the first 

 boats of the season to make the trip through the chain of lakes, the ice having left Fourth Lake 

 only that morning. 



t The crate, with the beavers, weighed eighty pounds. Poles were attached at the bottom in 

 such a way that it could be carried by two men, like a litter. 



% Throughout this article the writer purposely avoids stating the precise location of any of the 

 points where beavers have been liberated, or where they are known to exist to-day, believing that 

 it is best for the safety of these animals that the general public should not be informed of their where- 

 abouts too minutely. They will be discovered soon enough for their own welfare; and meanwhile 

 the directions given are sufficiently close for the purposes of this paper. 



