The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-08-04
WHERE BEAVERS LIVE.
KILGORE'S BIG FARM INHABITED BY
BEAVERS FOR MARKET.

One Man Who Hopes to Grow Rich Out
of the Scarcity of Sealskins-A Queel
Kind of Live Stock to Raise-Beayer,
Are as Social as Pigs.
"You have never heard Of Dick Xii
cores beaver farm? That's queer" The
speaker was old ''Mud Cat" Williams
who has been fisherman in the south
east Georgia streams for forty years.
"Dick's going to make pile Of money,
he continued.
"You see, Dick has about 200 beavers
young and old, but there are not more
than twenty to be killed for their skins
this year. It's a new industry, an ex
pertinent with him, and he don't want tc
kill any except the surplus males for the
present. But suppose you go out with
me and see the farm"
A drive of ten miles through the
swamps along Briar creek and the Kill
gore place, or Beaver Dam Hollow, was
reached.
"Now, here's thefarm," said Williams,
pointing to the creek, across which every
few yards were rough dams, aud above
them, in the almost still water, were
mounds of earth, rocks and sticks COM
ing out few feet above the surface Of
the water.
"You know beavers don't show them
selves much in the day. They do their
work at night. Dick owns about 1000
acres running up and down the creek. He
has the land posted and keeps everybody
off, but it is not fenced. Fences would not
keep the beavers in, but there is no dan
ger Of them going off, for this is q nat
ural home for them, and every beaver
here knows old Dick. He feeds them
every night, and they come, when he
calls, like hogs"
Kilgore has been a farmer down here
for years, and beavers have been in the
creek for all time, but it was not until
recently that he began to protect and
care for them with view to making
beaver raising a regular business. 1t
will be profitable business, for the
scarcity of sealskins has increased the
value of beaver skins, and they will con-
tinue to increase year by year. A few
years ago beaver skins sold as low as
four dollars per skin, but they should
now bring at least ten dollars each.
VALUE OF BEAVER SKINS.
Beaver skins sent to London and prop
er1v dvad q seal brown ara cnlaDdi6 iYoi
tations of the seal. The seal fur, you
know, is naturally gray. The reason l
say send beaver skins to London is be-
cause that is the only place in the world,
it seems, that furs can be properly dyed.
However, the fur of the beaver is natu-
rally reddish brown, and is beautiful
fur.
The beaver is queer little animal.
When full grown it weighs from fifty to
sixty pounds. Its hind legs are its prin-
cipal propellers, both when in and out of
the water. The hind feet are webbed
and the front ones have claws, which are
about as convenient to the beaver as
monkeys hands are to him. They can
carry stones and sticks about in them
with ease. In the water especially
beaver can carry quantity of freight,
for he swims with his hind feet and
carries his load in his mouth.
Just after dark Mr.. Kilgore went down
to the edge of the stream to feed the
beavers.
Il don't often feed them in the sum-
mer," he said, "for they get all they
want along the banks Of the stream.
They eat bark off the trees, and at this
season there is an abundance of fresh,
tender bark and grasses and roots. In
the winter they lay up a supply of food
for themselves along the banks and in
their holes in the dams, which they build
of roots and sticks and stones. l feed
them nearly all the time in winter, when
they flock together and unite in building
dams, but in summer they scatter-every
fellow for himself-and | only call them
up occasionally, just enough to keep them
tame. AS they are scattered off for
miles around, but few will come to call
for food"
HOW THE BEAVER WORKS.
LUZ oilCtC "C1O a uOLtu IOIll pug dDOuJ
in the stream then, and in fe inutes
quite number had gathered. mong
them were a score or more little 4~llows
born only month ago. The females have
from two to six young each annually,
and as consequence the families in
crease very rapidly.
A mixture of green food and little
grain was thrown out on the ground to
the herd of little animals, and they
scampered around and picked it up like
so many hogs. Some of them would
gather up an ear of corn or a young corn
stalk and dive off with it into the stream.
They We're tame, but, like hogs, would
scamper off if you tried to catch one.
A beaver seems to be almost human
in intelligence. They actually gnaw
down young trees, drag them into a
stream and let them float down, swim
ming with them to the place they want
TO build dam. Then they will drag
stones and roots and sticks and grasses,
and indeed everything used to dam a
stream, until they have practically as
dam as a man could con-
struct. They do this TO make the water
above deep enough to sport in and placid
enough to build their homes of sticks
and mud in, which are very warm and
comfortable IN winter and large enough
for a family of eight or ten.