THE WILD LIFE OF LAKE SUPERIOR 



197 



Photograph by George Shiras, 3d 



BEYOND REACH OF WOLF, FOX, OR LYNX 



A raft similar to that shown on the opposite page, anchored in ten feetof water, where 

 it swings freely with the wind. These floating foundations permit the building of the super- 

 structure a month earlier than where the animals are delayed through the fluctuating levels 

 of the lake each fall. One raft house is built of moss, the other reeds. 



The next year their plight was dis- 

 closed by the stumps of half a dozen 

 black ash cut five feet above the ground, 

 indicating the snow level at the time of 

 their desperate harvesting. In the spring 

 the melting of ice released and brought to 

 the surface a large number of yellow lily 

 roots, some of them six feet long, from 

 which the tender shoots and the outer 

 covering of the roots had been removed, 

 indicating the beaver had passed beneath 

 the ice-covered stream to the lake in 

 search of food at a time when zero 

 weather may have prevented forays 

 above ground. 



No lumbering having been done on the 

 river and lake except the removal of a 

 few large pines, there was an absence of 

 all second growth, the beaver depending 

 largely upon the long stretch of black ash 

 bordering the river and parts of the lake. 

 After the smaller trees had been cut, the 

 remainder, varying from 40 to 90 inches 

 in circumference, came next. 



When the river colony was estimated 

 to contain eight animals, there were two 

 seasons, 19 18 and 19 19, during which 

 from 25 to 30 trees were in the process 

 of felling at the same time, showing that 

 few, if any, of these animals continuously 

 confined their efforts to a single tree until 



the work was finished. On an average it 

 took from ten to fifteen days before large 

 trees were felled, by reason of this inter- 

 mittent cutting. 



BEAVERS WERE NEVER SEEN IN DAYTIME 



The beavers on the river were never 

 seen in the daytime, for the narrow and 

 shallow waters deterred such excursions, 

 but on the lake it was not unusual to see 

 some swimming about late in the after- 

 noon. 



It was some years before this, in Octo- 

 ber, 191 2, and on a stream west of Mar- 

 quette, I got a flashlight of a beaver 

 repairing a dam which had been broken 

 during the afternoon, for the purpose of 

 getting a night picture as the animal at- 

 tempted its repair (see page 177). 



But those about camp had no dams, or 

 at least were not permitted to block the 

 river with one, and consequently the idea 

 of taking a flashlight picture while a tree 

 was being cut seemed to offer the best 

 chance. For three weeks an outfit faced 

 a half-cut tree without result. So, on 

 departing for the East, I told John to 

 leave the camera out a few days longer. 



A night or two later a loud explosion 

 was heard up the stream and the unde- 

 veloped plates were sent me with the hope 



