The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-02-20
.PESKY BEAVERS
 WORRY RANCHMEN Complaints of Damage Done
 By Dam Builders PLENTIFUL IN THE WEs1 Though Once Threatened With Ex- tinction-Accused of Inundating
 Farm Lands and Telling
 Valuable Trees.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
 Denver.-The beaver, which threatened at one time to become extinct, has been so well protected by game wardens in the Rocky mountain states that now ranch men are complaining of It's depredations. They tell of farm lands inundated and shade trees destroyed by the busy dam builders, and in consequence of such com plaints State Game Commissioner Hol- land has in several cases granted specia! permits for the destruction of beavers. One ranchnian whose place was a fav- orite dwelling place of beavers complained that not only did the beavers build dam which inundated his bottom lands and spoiled a promising crop of hay, but having stripped off all the available tim Der near the stream they descended on the
 ranch yard and girdled all the cotton
 woods that served as a windbreak sur rounding the ranch house. The indignant ranchman did not dare shoot the beavers because there Is a heavy penalty for the
 killing of these animals. but he did set
 his fighting shepherd dog on them. To his disgust the first beaver the dog tackled put up such fight that the dog beat nasty retreat to the barn, where
 he spent the day repairing punctures. Ten years ago 1t was prophesied that the beaver would become extinct in the Rocky mountains. For nearly three gen. erations they had been trapped and hunt ed. and the streams that used to swarm with them knew them no more. Then fol- lowed stringent laws for the protection of the few beavers that remained. So we'll
 have these laws been enforced that the
 beavers have greatly increased in num- | bers.
 | Every year sees larger army of them
 at work in the small streams on the d. | vide, and now ranchmen declare that | limited amount of beaver trapping must be allowed each season if the little ami l nal is not to become a menace. The student of life in the Rocky noun tains will find that the beaver was the first conservationist. Every stream and lake in the Rockies bore his handiwork in the shape of dams. These dams held back the flood waters and aided in the deposit of the rich silt that makes up the agricultural bottom lands that stretch from the Rockies to the Mississippi
 When the trapping era came there was no thought of the beaver as first aid to the farmer. The trapper saw only the rewards that were represented by the fur of the animal. Many expeditions were fitted out at St. Louis for the purpose of trapping the beaver, and the men of the Hudson Bay company trapped their way south along the Rockies until they were driven back by the American Fur com pany's men and the free trappers who ac- knowledged allegiance to none of the great fur corporations
 In spite of the general war made upon him the beaver has managed to survive. Unlike the buffalo. the beaver is gifted with cunning that enabled him to make a long fight against man.
 The beaver never works except at night. About an hour before sundown he can be found swimming about his hut in mid stream, making general reconnaissance to find if the coast is clear. He depends almost entirely upon his sense of smell to warn him of the presence of enemies, for his eyesight is very poor. Enos Mills of Estes Park says he has stood for hours watching beavers near his place on Long's Peak.
 q have been within ten feet of the beavers at times,' said MT. Mills, land they have not been able to see me. They have sported in the water like puppies or have been busy carrying sticks to their dam without having the slightest idea I was in their vicinity. But as soon as the wind has varied a trife, giving one of the beavers a scent, down has come a tail on the water with sound like pistol shot and in an instant every beaver has dived and the pool is silent"
 MT. Mills spent nearly the entire sea- son watching two colonies of the ani- mals in Estes Park One of the most re- markable evidences of the beavers pluck and presidency Is found near MT. Mills's place. The beavers wanted more timber for their dam, but had cut all the availa- ble trees from the vicinity of the main pond. There was clump of quaking ash high up on the mountain side, and these trees the beaver cut down.
 The problem of transportation to the pond was difficult, but eventually 1t was solved. The trees were stripped of their branches, the logs were cut into short lengths so they could be rolled down the mountainside until they were stopped by level place.
 Here the beavers built roadway through heavy growth of underbrush, clearing of the brush and dragging the logs through To save rolling the logs across the last stretch to the pond they actually built canal, through which they ferried the logs to the water and then floated them to the dam. This sounds almost unbelievable, but the evil dences are to be- observed at MT. Mlls's place on Longs Peak
 "It Is thought that the beavers will work only in wood," said Mir. Mills. "but that is not the case I have seen a dam in the Dakotas where no timber was available. The only thing the beaver had to work with was coal, 8 large deposit of btuminous being near the creek. They snawed out slabs of this coal and built their dam with it, using mud for plaster
 .I don't believe the common story that beavers use their tails for paddles in working. At least have never seen one do so They use their tails for sort of combination brace and stool. but that is the only use have ever seen them make of those appendages save signaling with them by shaping the water
 Beavers live on great brush heaps of