HISTORICAL NOTES 
First mention of the mountain beaver was in the journal of Captain 
William Clark, written during the famous transcontinental expedition of 
1805. The following entry appears in Clark's notes dated Friday, De-~ 
cember 13, 1805, in winter quarters at Fort Clatsop (now Astoria, Oreg.): 
"The Clatsops leave us today after a brackfast of Elk, which 
they appeared to be very fond of before they left us they 
Sold me two robes of the skins of a Small animal about the 
size of a cat, and to Captain Lewis 2 Cat or Loucirva Skins 
for the purpose of makeing a Coat." 
When the explorers questioned the Chinook Indians about the 
"2 Cat or Loucirva Skins" they were informed that the "Skins" were 
"she-wal-lal." Because of imperfect language communications, Clark 
wrote sewellel as the Chinook name of the "Skin." However, the Chinook 
name "she-wal-lal'" did not apply to the animal itself, but to the blanket 
or robe made from its skin. The faulty name sewellel recorded by Clark 
first appeared in the Biddle-Allen narration of the Lewis and Clark's 
expedition in two volumes (1814). The following notice is found in 
the Allen edition: 
"Sewellel is a small animal found.in the timbered country 
of this coast. It is more abundant in the neighborhood of 
the great falls and rapids of the Columbia, than on the 
coast which we inhabit (mouth of the Columbia). The na- 
tives make great use of the skins of this animal in forming 
their robes, which they dress with the fur on, and attach 
them together with sinews of the elk or deer; the skin, 
when dressed, is from fourteen to eighteen inches long, 
and from seven to nine in width; the tail is always sepa- 
rated from the skin by the natives in making their robes. 
This animal mounts a tree (Audubon and Bachman (1854), 
and Suckley and Gibbs (1860), regard this statement "mounts 
a tree" as erroneous] and burrows in the ground precisely 
like a squirrel; the ears are short, thin and pointed, and 
covered with a fine short hair, of a uniform reddish brown: 
the bottom or base of the long hairs, which exceed the fur 
but Little in length, as well as the fur itself, are of a 
dark colour next to the skin for two thirds of the length 
of this animal; the fur and hair are very fine, short, 
thickly set, and silky; the ends of the fur and tips of the 
hair, are of a reddish brown, and the colour predominates 
in the usual appearance of the animal." 
The following quotation is from Rees of London (1814): 
“Captain Lewis offered considerable rewards to the Indians, 
but was never able to procure one of these animals alive," 
