The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-05-31

alike that Full Moon could not distin-
guish one from the other. When they
reached a place where the bank was
low and sloping they crawled up its
side and walked awkwardly AROUND
among the trees stopping now and
then and raising themselves upon theii
mind legs to listen. Presently one OF
them selected a large willow tree and
with a few cuts from their sharp front
teeth, which are from four TO five inches
in length, the beavers soon brought thu
tree to the ground. They began peel
ing off some of the bark for food. Aft
er they had finished their repast they
proceeded to cut the timber into lengths
that could be easily rolled to the BANK
and into the water to float down stream
10 the spot selected for their dam the
night before. The site chosen was
whore they cut the tree that .fortu-
nately for the beavers, grew on the
edge of the bank-and the noise of the
fall o: which led to their discovery by
Full Moon. These wise little animals
are economic engineers and never fa.l
to accept the aid that nature throws in
their way. So, finding the tree where
the surroundings were most suitable,
they saved much time and labor oy
cutting it so that it fell across the
now rapidly growing dam.
Had n system in Work.
After Full Moon left them on that
first eventful night that marked the
beginning of the first dam built by the
beavers of Beaver creek, the busy lit
tie animals cut off the top of the tree
and pulled it to one side. Then they
bit off all the branches from the under
side of the trunk so that the tree could
settle to the desired hight TO. form th@
top of the dam. Next they trimmed the
upper branches close to the trunk and
used them to weave into the long stubs
that extended down from the trunk
into the mud at the bottom of the
stream. Then the brush from the top
of the tree was pulled down agains'
the water side of the structure and COW
cred with mud, carried between the
forepaws and chin, to fill in the chinkS.
and small stones to hold l. down: the
dam now began to take on substantial
aspect.
Nearly all night for many a week ma
lures little lumbermen felled the trees
and fioated them down stream or car
ried branches in their mouths. thrown
across their shoulders and trailing be-
hind upon the water If the limb was of
a bushy nature and small enough to
handle in this way. This wonderful
progress went on before Full Moon :
astonished eyes as he lay night after
night, motionless upon the branch Oh
the great cottonwood tree, with his
limbs stiffened and benumbed with
cold.
Gave an Alarm.
Once Full Moon could endure the
cold no longer and moved to rest his
aching legs a little. In an instant one
l. tof, soy h w 10 n
he made the unfortunate move, threw
the hinder portion of it's body out of
the water as it descended head fore
most and brought its trowellike tail
down upon the surface and deep be-
low il, with a heavy stroke, causing
a report like the report of a pistol
that rang out on the stiffness of the
night and caused even the heart of the
brave Indian boy to quake At the same
time the force of the blow upon the
water threw a spray several feet high
and the signal of alarm could be dis
tinctly heard for half a mile or more
along the stream. Full Moon slid down
the tree trunk with stiffened limbs and
walked homeward He had actually
spent many nights with the beavers
and watched them at their work
In surprisingly short time, when
the workers are considered, the dam
was completed Near the crest the
wonderful structure was made porus
so that the water could filter through;
thus the wise little engineers were
able to keep the water in their yard at
a uniform hight. With the exception
of a porus strip near the top of the
dam, the entire water front was plas-
tered solidly with mud. The beavers
had completed one of the most i'm
portant structures for their safety.