The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1882-08-05
9escriptire Artirles.
The First Engineer.

One cannot fail to be struck with admi-
ration and astonishment on visiting the
haunts of the beaver; nor can we wonder
that the red men should place him
at the head of animal creation. The beav-
er is the original lumberinan, and the first
of hydraulic engineers. Simple and unos-
tentatious, his food is the bark of trees, and
his dwelling mud cabin.
North America is the principal home of
this animal; but it is also common on the
Euphrates, and along some of the larger
European rivers Water seems to be an
absolute necessity for the beaver, and it Is
of the utmost importance TO the animal
that the stream near which it lives should
not grow dry. In order to avert such
misfortune, the beaver knows how to keep
the water always at or about the same
height, or, at all events, to prevent it from
sinking below the requisite level.
If any modern engineer were asked how
to attain such an object, he would probably
point TO the nearest water-mill. and say that
the problem had there been satisfactorily
solved,--a dam having been built across
the stream so as to raise the water to the
requisite height, and to allow the superfiu-
Gus water to flow away. Now, water is as
needful for the beaver as for the miller,
and long before millers ever invented dams,
or before men ever learned to grind corn,
the beaver knew how to make dam and
insure itself constant supply of water.
When the animal has fixed upon n tree
which it believes to be suitable for its pur-
pose, ii begins by sitting upright, and with
It's ehisel-ike teeth cutting bold groove
completely round the trunk. 1t then wi
dens the groove, and always makes it wide
in exact proportion to its depth. 50 that
when the tree is nearly cut through it looks
something ike the contracted portion Of an
hour-glass. When this stage has been
reached. the beaver looks anxiOusly at the
tree, and views il on every side, as if de-
sirous Of measuring the direction in which
it is 70 fall Having sttled this question,
Il goes to the opposite side Of the tree, and
with two or three powerful bites eats away
the wood, 80 that the tree becomes over
balanced aud falls TO the ground. The an
iInal then proceeds 10 cut up the fallen
trunk into logs, usually yard or so in
length.
Tho next part Of the task is 10 make
these logs into dam. This Is by no
means placed at random in the stream, just
where feS logs may have happened 10
lodge, but Is not exactly where il Is wanted,
and 50 made a. to suit the force Of the cur
rent In those places where the stream
runs slowly, the dam Is carried straight
across the river, but where the water has
much power, the barrier i made in a con-
yex shape, TO resist its force. The power
of the strcam can therefore always be IN
ferred from the shape Of the dam which
the beavers have bailt across ii. Some Of
these dams arc Of very great size, measur-
ing two or three hundred yards in length
and ten or twelve fcs IN thickness.
The dam Is formed, not by forcing the
ends of the hogs into the bed Of the river,
but by laying them horizontally, and COW
ering them with stones and earth until
they can resist the force Of the water.
Vast numbers Of logs are thus laid, and a.
fast as the water rises, fresh materials are
added, being obtained mostly from the
trunks and branches of trees which have
been stripped of their bark by the beavers
Aftex the keavers have compleied their
dam, Il obssructs the course Of the stream
30 completely as 10 interceps all large fcat-
ing objects. and every log or branch that
may happen 10 be throgn into the river Is
arrested by the dam, and aids in increasing
MS dimensions.
Mad and earth are also continually add
cd by the beavers, 50 thai in process Of
time the dam becomes as firm as the iand
through which the river passes, and Is COW
cred with fertile ailuvium Seeds soon
make their way to the e0ugenial soil, and
ia dam Of long standing forest tress have
been known 10 grow, their roots adding 70
the general stability BY binding together
the materials
Originally the dam Is seldom more than
a yard in width where il cveFtops the water,
but these accidental additions cause con
tinaal increase. The bark with which the
logs were originally covered is not all eatcn
BY the animals, but stripped away, and the
greater part hidden under water, to serve
for food in the winter time
The beaver is essentially an aquatic
mammal, never walking when it can swim,
and seldom appearing quite az it, ease upon
dry land. Ii therefore makes is houses
chose to the water, and communicating with
it by means Of snhterranean passages, one
entrance of which passes into the house, or
lodge as it Is technically named, and the
other into the water, 50 far below the sur
face that it cannot be closed BY ice. Ii Is
therefore always possible foE9the beaver to
gain access to the provision stores and 70
return to its house without being seen from
the land
The lodges are nearly circular in form,
and much resemble the wellknown snow
houses of the Esquimaux, being domed,
and about half as high as they are wide,
the average height being three feet and the
diameter six or seven feet. These are the
interior dimensions, the exterior measur-
ment being much greater, on account of
the great thickness of the walls, which are
continually strengthened with mud and
branches, 50 that daring the severe frosts
they are nearly as hard as stone. Each
louHt Will atNtbtilltudAtN sNSt Ath4oAeohtss,
whose beds are arranged round the walls.
Il is a melancholy circumstance that the
beaver is gradually disappearing, as well in
America as elsewhere So incessant has
been their pursuit and 80 indiscriminate
their slaughter, and so considerably have
their numbers diminished within a centu-
nv, that we might prognosticate the time
when the species viii cease to exist.
A beaver arrived in England in the win
ter of 1925, very young, being small and
woody, and without the covering of long
hair that marks the adult animal Ii was
the sole survivor Of FIVE or six which were
shipped at the same time; and it was in a
pitiable condition. and with the
coat all clogged with pitch and tar. Good
treatment quickly restored it to health; it
grew apace, pumped out and the fur be-
came clean and in good condition.
Kindness soon made it familiar. When
called by its name, "Binny," it generally
answered with little, low, plaintive cry
and came to its owner The hearth-rug
was its favorite haunt in winter evenings,
and thereon it would lie, stretched out at
its length, sometimes on its back, some
times on its side, expanding its webbed