Sunday Washington globe., 1902-01-12
DIPLOMATIC BEAVERS. $500. ,..,....,..
Ceased War on Muskrats Because of
Aid

Charles Nicholas, an Indian guide of
Kineo, Moosehead Lake, to whom the
habits Of bird and beast are an open
book, tells the following little story, which
he declares Is true, which is certainly good
enough to be true:
Near the head Of Spencer Bay is an ex
tensive marsh, where in the summer time
deer are wont to feed and frolc where in
the fall the lordly moose comes from off
the mountain to mate and where at all
seasons OF the year muskrats innumerable
have dwelt No so far away is a smaller
marsh, where for many years a colony of
beaver has lived in cosy houses built close
by the waters edge. These two little COM
munties never exchanged calls. but lived
aud prospered in happy exclusion the go
ing out of the ice from the lake last spring
was followed by an almost unprecedented
rise of water, and the two marshes in Spencer
Bay. the larger one and the little one, were
completely covered
Now the muskrats did not mind the
food a bit Driven from one hole they
sought another further back and when
there weren't any more holes these happy;
go-lucky vagrants set up housekeeping in
huge piles Of drftwood, never losing a meal
or a wink of sleep. But with the beaver it
was different. These industrious property
owners suffered severely, and when the
waters of Moosehead Lake at last receded
the ruins of the beavers lodges went with
them The beavers did not sit and sulk.
neither did they think of building again on
the same old site They sought higher
ground, where the floods Of another spring
could not reach them, and so it came about
one fine morning when the muskrats came
down onto the marsh to play they found
the beaver there before them II was a
large marsh, as has been stated before. but
it was not large enough for both muskrat
and beaver. War was at once declared and
the war was ended in the breaking up of
the muskrat colony and the scattering of
the rats along the the shores Of
Spencer Bay. Two miles from the
marsh and on the farther side of the bay
was a clump of trees, which the beaver
selected as the best material available for
their new homes All day and all night
they sawed, until finally they had floating
in the lake and compaCtly RATED several
hundred logs just the right length and
thickness for up-to-date beaver houses.
And then the troubles of these busy but un-
scrupulous little builders began They
could not even stir the raft of logs from
shore to say nothing Of towing it two miles
across Spencer bay to the marsh Every
beaver in the colony was summoned to the
task. Young and old, big and little. weak
and strong, they pushed and pulled,
but they could not bulge that raft Of
timber. Then the head of the beaver
colony called the other beavers together
on the raft and laid before them
this remarkable proposition. If the musk
rats would lend helping hand and tow
that raft up Spencer bay they (the beaver)
would permit them to return to the big
marsh, where they might live without fear
Of mOlestatiOn. The rest Of the beavers
agreed, and the muskrats, when appealed
to, also agreed and the following morning.
before the waters of the bay ruughed up,
the deer and the squirrels and the gulls be-
held with amazement beavers and musk
rats shoulder 70 shoulder, pushing a raft
of logs before them up Spencer bay The
houses are built, and the beaver are in
them. And all about are muskrat holes,
and muskrats in them, too And beaver
and rat. who are at war everywhere
else in Northern Maine, are living together
in peace on the big marsh at the head of
Spencer bay.