Daily Kennebec journal., 1902-12-10
STATE HOUSE.
Beaver Colony Located in Town
Of Fort Fairfield.
Assessors Commit Taxes on Trust
and Banking Companies.
Other Matters of Interest at the State
Capitol.

ForeSt Commissioner Ring recent,
returned from visit to Fort Fairfiels
and reports that the people of tha-
town are highly elated over the fac
that colony of beaver has established
winter quarters on brook on the
premises of Francis Mcdonald within
the limits of the town and about one
mile from the village proper. Tn,
beaver have built dam upon tn,
brook which runs across Mr.. McDon.
AIDS farm and have made theil
houses. And in them they probably
propose to pass the winter.
The dam which the beaver have built
is 90 feet long and the work has beer
done Dy these industrious and in
genious animals in the night time
when they are free from the
gaze OF human beings, as they un-
doubtedly imagine. No animal that
inhabits the woods Of North America
shows so much skill and ingenuity in
the building of homes as the beaver
Those new located on McDonald's
brook are still at work completing theii
houses. and their location in that sec
ton is matter of pleasure to the
people for miles around, who come tC
Wow the dam and strive to get a peer
at the animals themselves. An old
trabper who is acquainted with the
characteristics Of the beaver SAYS
that there are II animals in this colony
He has watched them at their work in
the darkness of the night and has
carefully counted the creatures many
times, so that he is pretty certain that
i,a,. at : ha Ia, ;c-. a.,
even dozen. The eyesight of the
beaver is by no means acute and they
can work in the night as well as in the
day. Their sense of hearing and OF
smelling. however. makes up their de-
ficiency in sight.
During the summer time beaver live
in n rather hand to-n1outh way, almost
their only systematic work being the
construction and repair of their dams
In measure they abandon their win
ter quarters and take up their home in
burrows in the bank. These burrows
open into the water at a considerable
depth below the surface. Under the
roots of a large tree, where the bank
is nearly perpendicular, in a favorite
place. The burrows are usually some
y feet in length and ascend gradually
to within a few inches of the surface,
where they terminate in chamber,
often under the roots of a tree, so as to
give security and ventilation at the
same time.
In building the dams and digging
the burrows the beaver work together
in crews. but whether one is the boss
or whether each works under its own
&c fact there
is no animal known to science whose
characteristics are so little understood
A beaver will sink a stick of wood
into the water, but no human hano
can do the same trick, say the trap
pers who have tried it. The bark ol
the willow. poplar and birch forms
their principal food, though this Is
varied to some extent by roots ahc
grass. In some localities the bark OF
white birch is the most common 1000
used by them. 1t is the inner not the
outer paper-like bark. upon Whcf
thev feed To obtain this, no tree Is
too large for them to fell. Not lnIfe
uuently on some gravel bar in rive
NAV be seen a hundred or more ltti'
sticks. about the size of and length o
an ordinary lead pencil, all freshi }
pealed-the remains of some beaver
nocturnal feast.
The beaver located in the brook a
| Fort Fairfield it is claimed. ai
| separate and distinct from the coioh.
which had a dam and houses
| Caribou. dozen miles away. an
which was described in the paper
last wear. Somebody blew that dan
with dynamite and scattered TN
| family there domiciled. Within tn
nost fall however. the beaver have re
turned there and have repaired thei
dam and patched up their houses 10
! tho winter. 1t is not believed that tn
Fort Fairfield beaver are part OF tha
I colony. The dam of the Fort Il falrhei
colony is built within 10 rods OF III
main highway leading to the Niiias'
Leading citizens of the town say the
want the beaver protected. ana "o
betida the luckless individual wh
dares to injure or destroy the pea'e
or>their homes.
=. short time ago it was said that
novenent would be made at the com
ing session Of the Legislature 10 pre
vent the extension of the close time
| beaver. the statement being mao
that there was limit to the law an
! tb,t II would expire next year. I'M
latter statement is not true some
or 20 years ago beaver in Maine wa
practically extinct. A law wa
nassed making close time for teri
of years. and this law was rehewe
thraa times In 1889 the Legislatut
placed a perpetual close time
beaver. This was done in response
n practically unanimous sentiment
IFS favor by the people. To allow IN
taking and killing of beaver W
necessitate the repeal of that la"
From all that can be learned about III
matter it is safe to say that there IS n
nrospect of such action being taken tn
coming winter.
The state assessors. YESTERDAY
sasced the semi-annual taxes upon III
trus. and banking companies Oh -
c,,ta The following schedule give
,na ,,ount assessed i'm June ana be
cemher of the present year;
June. Decembe
Auburn Trust Co.. s2fs.ao ,,o n".
.