September, 1943 Mone: 
were reported to be fairly common at Gol- 
conda. No reliable evidence has turned 
up since to show that spotted skunks are 
present anywhere in this state, although 
Biewt © Laylor, Fur Company of, ot 
Louis, Mo., lists prices of Illinois civets. 
BEAVER 
Although beavers once — occurred 
throughout Illinois, Wood (1910) wrote 
that they seemed to have been practically 
exterminated in and around Champaign 
County before the first permanent set- 
tlers came. Forbes (1912) wrote that 
beavers were reported in four Ohio River 
counties. They later became extinct in 
Illinois, but have since been reintroduced, 
eee 2 
The first shipment of reintroduced 
beavers was released Nov. 2, 1935; 
in Hunting Branch, a tributary of Bay 
Creek, 6 miles southeast of Stonefort, and 
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@ RECENT INTRODUCTION 
Fig. 25.—Records of beaver occurrence in 
Illinois. Dates show counties from which they 
were last recorded. Large dots indicate recent 
introductions of beavers into Illinois. 
F URBEARER DISTRIBUTION AND INCOME 533 
9 in Grand Pierre Creek, 2 miles south- 
east of Herod, both locations in Pope 
County. Soon afterwards, those in Hunt- 
ing Branch moved downstream into Bay 
Creek, where their signs were observed 
over 114 miles south of the place at 
which they were released. A year later 
some of these were found in the locality 
of the town of Robbs, which is about 8 
miles from the spot of release. “Chose lib- 
erated in Grand Pierre Creek remained in 
the general locality, where they built one 
dam and where their cuttings and other 
signs are now common. 
During the fall of 1938, three beaver 
dams were reported in Lusk Creek about 
5 miles up from its mouth at the Ohio 
River. In order to find their way here, the 
beavers probably migrated down Bay 
Creek to the Ohio River, then up the 
Ohio to Lusk Creek, and finally up 
Lusk Creek 5 miles to the new location. 
It is not likely that they traveled across 
country between Bay Creek and Lusk 
Creek. 
On March 1, 1936, four beavers were 
received from Wisconsin. One died en- 
route and a second, weakened or injured 
by the trip, died shortly after it was set 
free. The skull of this second animal is 
in the Illinois Natural History Survey 
collection. ‘The live animals were turned 
loose on the property of the East St. Louis 
Hunting Club near Reynoldsville, in 
Union County. No beaver or beaver signs 
were reported there until late in 1938, 
when adam was found across Clear Creek 
Drainage Ditch, west of the hunting club. 
In 1940, there was a large used beaver 
burrow near this club and a lodge near 
Reynoldsville. A Union County beaver 
lodge is shown in fig. 29 of the Brown & 
Yeager report. 
A small colony was recently reported 
present at a lake owned by L. E. Groppel, 
Rosedale ‘Township, Jersey County; beav- 
ers were introduced there by the State De- 
partment of Conservation in August, 1936 
(Thatcher 1937). 
The last consignment of beavers con- 
sisted of three received during October, 
1938. These animals were released in La 
Rue Swamp, 2 miles north of Wolf Lake 
in Union County, the most favorable of 
the sites where beavers have been re- 
leased. 
The beavers (a total of 24 in addition 
