Connecticut western news., 1885-06-17
A BEAVERS CHARMED LIFE.
An Interesting Chapter In Local History
 Recalled by m Auction Sale.

There was large gathering at the Mapes farm, in Harmony, Pa., to attend the sale of the personal effects of the late OrVin s. Mapes. Among the arti- cles disposed of was 8 beaver-skin cap, which was made seventy-one years ago out of the fur of the last beaver ever captured in the Chemung Valley, if not in the State. The beaver was killed by the father of Orvin Mapes, after it had been hunted for twenty years.
 There were very few beavers left in the waters of this State or Pennsylvania in 1794, when Benjamin Patterson, a noted hunter and trapper of those days, discovered a colony in Mud Greek, 8 tributary of the Upper Chemung River. This was the first colony of beavers that had been found thereabout for some years. Patterson set his trap, and caught 8 beaver every night for seven nights. On the eighth night a beaver escaped from the trap, and left one of its hind legs in it.
 It is a peculiarity of the beaver family that if all the members of colony but one are captured or die, the survivor will never again seek another colony or follow the regular life of beaver, but will become wanderer, hiding where ever it can, and displaying cunning and sagacity that were strange to it when it lived in 8 colony. After finding the beavers leg in his trap, and failing to capture any more of the ami mals, Patterson knew that he had taken all but one of the entire colony, and that that one had become crippled wanderer.
 These solitary beavers were called tramps by some trappers, and bachelors by others. Patterson lost track of the missing beaver, but the next year he came upon signs of it. He could not find its hiding places, however, and for five years he followed the crippled beaver up and down the Chemung and it's branches, always on its trail, but never succeeding in outwitting it's cum ming. At the end of five years Patter- son declared that the beaver bore 8 charmed life, and there was no use in wasting time on it. His brother Rich ard thought differently, and continued the search for the bachelor beaver. It was heard of all over the valley, first in one place then in another; but Patter- son had no better luck in trapping for it than his brother had, and in 1907 all signs of the wandering beaver disap- peared. It was thought that 1t had died or left the locality.
 In 1909 Richard Patterson was trap
 ping on the very headwaters of the
 Chemung and he discovered signs of a beaver. He could not locate it in any
 one spot, and it kept moving down the
 stream. Patterson followed it all the way to Newtown, where Elmira now stands, without getting sight of 1t. At Newtown Eddy the beaver left the stream, and Patterson discovered by it's
 tracks in the snow that 1t had but three
 legs, and he made up his mind the crippled bachelor beaver of 1794 had turned up again. The trail led across ! country seven miles to another stream, where it disappeared, and all trace oi the beaver was lost.
 Nothing was heard or seen of it again
 for nearly four years. In 1912 Benjamin Patterson was fishing in the Tioga River, near Painted Post, and was surprised to see beaver crawl out from 8 clump oi willows near by him and draw itself uI the bank. One of it's hind legs was gone, and Patterson felt that he was once ; more in the presence of the charmed beaver. He picked up club and sprane toward the animal, but it quickly disap' l peared in the water. Patterson ran to c } house near by and got rife. When he i returned to the river the beaver was ir - the middle of the river, swimming
 toward the other shore. Patterson tooH
 good aim and fired at it. It disappeared
 beneath the water. Paterson believing
 that he had killed the beaver at last jumped into a boat and started out tc look for it's body. Before he had gone far be saw the beaver climb up the banl , on the other side and disappear. Pat
 terson then swore that he would never
 again make any attempt on the life o4 the bachelor beaver. .. All sign of the mysterious tramp wa 3 again lost. In the spring of 1914 there was an unusually large freshet in the Chemung. Ira Mapes, father of Orvin
 Mapes, was working on @ raft with two , other men some distance above New ] town. The flood became so strong that
 just after the men had gone to their raf
 to work early one morning the rope broke and they were carried down stream. The raft landed on an island } near Newtown. A crop of corn had been raised on the island the year before, and } some of the shocks of stalks had been left standing. The weather was very : cold, and Mapes and the men started fol
 one of the corn shocks to shelter them selves until they could be taken of the 3 island. There had been slight fall O 2 snow during the night, and the mer r noticed peculiar track leading iron , the river to the corn shock toward 5 which they were going. The track had
 been made by an animal with but three ' feet. The men picked up clubs, and surrounding the corn shock, routed the
 animal out.
 It was very large and very gra! g beaver, and it was soon killed. One o i it's hind legs was gone, and the mel !. then knew that the crippled baehelo beaver that had foiled all the best trap Q pers for twenty years had met its deatt
 at their hands. Mapes bought all in l terest in the beaver for $2, and subse quently had the fur made into cap 1 When his ann 0rvin xvaa Tnarriad iT