The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1902-05-24
HOMES OF THE BEAVERS.
FAST DISAPPEARING BEFORE THE
VANGUARD OF CIVILIZATION.

| How the Little Fellows Build and Live
| in Harm Title to Distinction
| Rests on Their Ability as Engineers
They Have Exceedingly Thrifty Habits.
| The beaver is another of the ami
mails which are fast disappearing be-
fore the barbarian vanguard OF civil
lization. From a common AMI widely
distributed animal, he has become
rare and local, and in most parts OF
| the United States he is already but
faint memory, kept alive by such
names as Beaver Falls, Beaver Dam
and Beaver Brook, given to places
( which he formerly inhabited. His
| beautiful fur coat was coveted by
man, and according to the universal
law of nature he died because it was
tC the immediate interest OF more
powerful animal to kill him. Per
haps he has fulfilled his mission; at
toward forming tne contour of the
| country. Wherever he has been he
| has left lasting monuments to his in
iustry in the form of meadows, ponds
and waterfalls, and his name will al
| ways be associated with peaceful, in
telligent labor.
In appearance, the beaver reminds
us somewhat of a muskrat and some
what OF a woodchuck, though he is
larger than either of them. In length
he measures something over two feet,
from the tip of his blunt nose to the
root of his tail. His body is roughly
cone-shaped, being largest in the rear,
and covered with the rich, shining fur,
which is at once his wealth and his
death warrant. This fur is of two
kinds, one composed of long, coarse,
glossy chestnut hair, which is short,
thick, soft and silky. The nose of the
animal is blunt, the eyes small, and
the ears short an rounded The fore
feet are short and slender, but the
hind feet are large and web-bed to
the toe nails. The former serve the
animal in place of hands, while the
latter are the propellers which urge
him through the water. But the most
peculiar part of beavers anatomy
is his tail. This appendage is fiat
and broad, and it's horizontal outline
is almost perfect eclipse, about
foot long and three and a half inches
wide. 1t is about an inch tlick and
covered with angular scales. 1t is
used by the beaver as a ruider to
guide him while swimming, not as a
tray on which to carry building mate
rials, nor as trowel to plaster the
walls of his dwelling, as some old
writer's would have us believe. The
beaver also uses it to slap the water
as signal to his companions when
there Is danger in the wind.
The beavers chief title to dlstinc.
ton restS On his ability a. IN engi.
neer, which is perhaps unequalled py
any other four-footed creature. When
a colony Of beavers take possession of
a body Of water, usually small, clear
river or brook, they first Of all make
dam, which throws the water back,
flooding the surrounding land AMI
creating pond, the site of a future
beaver city. The dam is made of mud,
small stones, moss grass and the
branches of trees which have been
cut down by the sharp and powerful
incisor teeth Of the beavers. TIE
branches form the frame work Of the
dam, and the mud, stones, moss and
grass are plastered in between the
sticks, forming strong water-tight
structure. Such dam is sometimes
eight feet high AMI almost a quarter
Of mile in length, extending far be.
ycnd the original banks of the stream.
It is perhaps ten or twelve feet wide
at the bottom, but much narrower at
the top, as t1e sides slope toward each
other.
In the pond thus formed the beav-
ers make their lodges or houses, great
dome-shaped structures, six or eight
feet high, AMI some of them from
twelve to twenty feet in circumfer-
ence. The doorways are under the
water, and in front of each the beav-
ers scratch away the mud, forming a
deeper channel that they may sink
the wood intended for winter food
without danger of it's being frozen in,
and that they may pass freely in and
out, even when the ice is thick upon
the pond. The tops of the houses are
made of branches matted together and
plastered with mud and moss, and
when this is all frozen together it
forms an almost impregnable fortress.
Sometimes as many as ten or twelve
beavers occupy a single lodge, each
with a separate bed near the walls,
and each sharing the laborious work
which is necessary to the welfare of
every beaver community. When an
accident happens to dam or to one
Of the houses. the little animals are
quick to repairit, realizing, apparently,
the value of "a stitch in time" Hunt
ers used to take advantage Of their
thrifty habits to work their destruc-
ton. After breaking down a portion
Of dam they would sometimes hide