BEAVER IN COLORADO. 



427 



There is a second smaller dam below this 

 first one, but it is broken and not kept in 

 repair. The town of Palmer Lake and the 

 Rocky Mountain Chautauqua Association 

 are dependent on the lower reservoir for 

 their water supply. During the drought of 

 1899 the beaver dam held back almost all 

 the water coming down the canyon water- 

 shed, while the reservoir below was nearly 

 drained by daily withdrawals. To obviate 

 this, the beaver dam was broken. Each 

 night the busy little animals repaired the 

 break and again shut off the flow of water. 

 Each morning the dam had to be opened, 



assemblage of people, and the daily dis- 

 turbance the animals must have been sub- 

 jected to by passing teams, walking parties, 

 and wandering botanists, without being 

 driven away. It shows how they will per- 

 sist if not shot or trapped, even when their 

 work is interrupted and destroyed each day. 

 I believe they could be semi-domesticated 

 here, as I understand they have been in 

 New York State. 



The colony on the South fork of Monu- 

 ment creek is the more interesting, though 

 the family residence was not discovered. 

 There the beaver have built a fresh dam 



BEAVER DAM. 



Reprinted by request, from Recreation, June, 1900, 



AMATEUR PHOTO BY Q. BICKFORD. 



only to be mended and closed again at 

 night. About the shores of this pond I 

 found no evidences of a feeding ground, 

 nor of regular runways, so often seen 

 among beaver colonies where there are 

 many animals and they are undisturbed. 

 There are probably only a few pairs here, 

 or even only a single pair and a few kit- 

 tens. A pair of beaver can do a great deal 

 of work in a short time. At least they can 

 make a large showing of work in the way 

 of chips, etc. To me one of the chief 

 points of interest about this colony of beav- 

 ers was its proximity to a large and lively 



directly in the center of a small garden 

 ranche, where, all last summer, people 

 worked and were about, yet with apparent- 

 ly little disturbance to the beavers. The 

 new dam was built during the spring of 

 1899. For a distance above the ranch the 

 canyon widens out into a large, flat 

 meadow, plainly the result of older and 

 former beaver colonies. This level area is 

 well overgrown by willows, alders, quak- 

 ing asp, and other wild bushes and trees. 

 Across tin's meadow at irregular intervals 

 are numerous old dams. The lowest and 

 newest dam is a work of skillful engineer- 



