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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by George Shiras, 3d 



MUSKRATS UKE HOUSE-BOATS 



A cedar raft built for the mnskrats to use as a float for their winter home. Anchored in the 

 slough at the south end of Whitensh Lake and now in use three years (see page 196). 



and fifty years there was a succession of 

 good seasons, followed by a relapse. 



A NOTEWORTHY STUDY OE THE BEAVER 



When the writer first came to Lake 

 Superior not one stream in a dozen 

 showed any recent signs of beaver, most 

 of the animals being found at the head- 

 waters of the streams and on little lakes 

 well inland, where the Ojibways never 

 lived and the white trapper sometimes 

 overlooked them. 



In 1867, three years before my arrival, 

 there appeared in print a monograph on 

 "The American Beaver and His Works," 

 by L. H. Morgan, the most original and 

 valuable biography ever written about 

 this animal, and still regarded as a classic 

 in zoologic literature. Mr. Morgan re- 

 sided in Marquette County for a number 

 of years, associated in the building of 

 railroads and furnaces. On his many 

 trips into the woods he always employed 

 Jack La Pete as his principal guide, and 

 from the latter I learned much about this 

 indefatigable investigator. 



Mr. Morgan's collections of skulls and 

 bones led us to nickname him "the fossil" ; 

 for, boy-like, we thought such relics 



savored of mental antiquity. It is now 

 a pleasure to join in the public com- 

 memoration of this remarkable produc- 

 tion and to be able to note the great 

 changes taking place in the same locali- 

 ties he visited. 



About 1885 the last beaver disappeared 

 from the waters about camp, and for 

 twenty years thereafter none was seen. 

 Finally, a long closed season saved the 

 remnant in upper Michigan. 



Six years ago I found fresh cuttings 

 and later located a beaver burrow deep 

 within a bank at the south end of the 

 lake. The next year in enlarging the 

 chamber it broke through the surface 

 soil, which was then covered with a mass 

 of sticks. 



HARD TIMES IN THE BEAVER WORLD 



The same fall the eviction of the two- 

 year-old beaver led to the establishment 

 of a colony on the river not far above 

 camp, where a large house was built of 

 sticks and covered with mud (see page 

 180). This new home, however, was not 

 finished until the middle of November, 

 when the ice prevented the collection of 

 the winter supply of food. 



