The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-09-07
WHERE THE BEA VERS HIDE
SEEK DESOLITE SPOTS LIKE THE
 CANYON or THE RIO CYANIDE.

| GOrge-Entering Its Mouth, One Mus l Go Through the Whole goo or 30t
 Miles.
 Of all American wild animals the one | which yields most readily before the ad- vances of civilization is the beaver It l is prolific beast enough, and II let alone would thrive, but it cannot i've within contact of man or within hearing of mans work. One reason for thls IS that the dam, which is it's home, IS broken down by the white men, WHO want a free waterway for thelr logs Another reason lies in the value of the beaver skin, which brings $6 undrsssed, but the most cogent of all is the shyness of the animal itself. It will forfeit home and prosperity to get out of slght of it's hated enemy, and it has moved so often that it has perished. Where for mery every clear stream of the West was populous with the beaver, hardly one remains. Fifty years ago the per son in the Northwest who predicted that the beaver could eyer become eX- tinct would have been booted as an idiot. The same people would have hooted the prophet of the destruction of the buffalo The beaver, being a water-dweller, has lasted the longer. but there can be no doubt that it is doomed to ultimate extinction
 The otter remains though in con- stantly decreasing numbers. It's skin is almost as valuable as the beavers but it not so shy and is of wider hab- fiat. Though not common, 1t is to be taken in all of the watered areas of the West and Northwest, and in certain parts of the South is plentiful enough to make its pursuit and capture worth the while, This is especially true of the mountains of northern and western Ar kansas, where the otter is still trapped regularly, and even an occasional bea- yer is found in the trap Three bea- vers were taken last winter in the Ozarks two in Arkansas and one on the the Missouri side of the line. The animal is so rare however, that the captures were thought worthy of chron- icling in the daily press. Twenty-Five years ago in that section the man who caught beaver was of not much more local prominence than the man who caught a coon.
 There may be few beavers living in the wilder streams of the Indian Terri tory, though there is no evidence of it. The redskin is not hunter of the bea- yer, since it's capture means a great deal of hard work, and the whites are riders after cattle or smugglers of fire water. In the western part of the Ter ritory, however, all the conditions ex st for the preservation of the shy diver, l and it is not unlikely that trapper would repaid by season out there. It | is thought too, that beaver could be 1 found and caught in the stream of the | Grand Canon of the Colorado, if there | were any certainty of getting out after | l man once got in. but not any one has | been found bold enough to try it. The | will do good deal for kins 1t $6 apiece but he has some eau ion left
 There is one place, however, in the United States where the beaver does ex- st in numbers large enough to make a ertain return for the effort of trapping The inconvenience of reaching it is ;reat though not unbearable, but it's 'erils are many and it has bad name.
  e of which not one American out of undred has ever heard. It has stood, S it stands to-day, dark and terrible, or thousands of years, it has not get nto the books, or the romances, or the or the public prints Save in
 Government report, printed before the var there is no official mention of It, nd since it serves no commercial pur- ose and does not attract tourists it Is nmentioned even by those who may now of it.
 The canon of the Rio Grande begins ome sixty miles south of Fl Paso and nds 100 miles north of Eagle Pass It's ,ngth may be anywhere between 200 or 70 miles. For much of it's course orms a part of the western boundary that portion of Texas which is known s the Peninsula" a section which has as much crime as any other arritorv of equal extent and which now
 governed more by the slx-shooter ian by law. On the Mexican side of 1e river the country is equally wild nd equally lawless. There is nothing , l either side of the river except hills WIS When a Texas criminal is able
  nd vast rolling mesas, browsed upon ' thousands of cattle, with lonely vau- eros riding here and there and out l, mself reasonably safe so long as he pes not interfere with the folks living ere, and if he does and has time. he nply rides southv ard of the canon un- '
 he gets chance to cross to the other de. Mexicans not wanted at home turn the compliment by emigration to is side. The break is about even. he American rustlers will do more | Hing than the Mexican, but the Mex an is the more industrious and adroit c ief. The beaver population of the canon great, because for 200 miles there is
 way of getting at it save by entering e tremedous gash at the canons up- r end and staying until the mouth r reached, It is stated by those who W ght to know that at no place is II ere a side entrance or an exit through l
 entire course. Therefore the trap O I who started after these beavers U luld have to make up his mind to see l. e game to a finish. Singularly n ough, the canon has never been sur q yed Estimates of it's length and q dth and depth are only approxima- W ms, though they are believed to be W lsunably accurate In the iftiee the ! u Evernment sent a party of engineers V