Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1915-05-07
BEAVER FERRY BOAT.
Youngster Made Good Use of
Mothers Back.
Lover of Animals Gives Some Inter
esting Particulars of the Life in a
Colony of the Industrious
Little Animals.

One May morning 1 concealed my
self behind a log by the pond, within
twenty feet of the largest beaver
house, l hoped to see the young
beavers.
Presently a brown nose appeared
between the house and my hiding
place. AS a mother beaver climbed
upon n of the spruce logs thrust out
of the water, her reflection in the wa
ter mingled with spruces and the
white clouds in the blue field above.
She commenced to dress her fur-to
make her toilet. After preliminary
scratching and clawing with a hind
foot, she rose and combed with fore
claws; a part of the time with both
forepaws at once.
A few mornings later the baby
beavers appeared. The mother at
tracted my attention with some make
believe repairs on the farther end of
the dam, and the five youngsters
emerged from the house through the
water and squatted on the side of the
house before l saw them. For a mo-
AOA AZ a 14Ol1OAlCSS. IL III bJ
n climbed out on a projecting stick
and tumbled into the water. The 9TH
ers showed no surprise at this acct
dent.
The one in the water did not mind
but swan outward. where he was
caught in the current that started to
carry him over the dam. At this stage
| hiC pa4fbnr W. -
beneath him. He accepted the oppor-
tunity and sCuatted upon her back
with that expressionless face which
beavers carry most of the time. The
youngster sat on his mothers back as
though asleep while she swan with
him to the house. Here he climbed off
in a matter-of-fact way. as though a
ride on a ferry boat was nothing new
to him.
During the summer, a majority OF
the Broken Tree beavers abandoned
the colony and moved to other scenes
A number built a half-mile down
stream, while the others, with one ex
ception. travelled to an abandoned
beaver colony on the first stream tc
the north. Overland this place was
only half a mile from the Broken Tree
but by water route, down stream to the
forks, then up the other stream to thu
colony, the distance was three miles
This was an excellent place to live
and with but little repair an old aban
doned dam was made better than,
new one. ALI summer a lone beave
of this colony rambled about. One
he returned to the Broken Tree col
ony. Finally he cast his lot with tn
long established colony several mile
down stream. =
Occasionally the remaining Broker
Tree beavers did daytime work. Will
l was on the lookout one afternoon, a
old beaver waddled up the slope an
stopped by a large aspen that ha
been left standing by the other worE
ers. The bottom of this tree wa
: heavily swollen. The old beaver too
a bite of it's bark and ate with an e1
pressionless face. Evidently it wa
good, for after eating the old fello,
t scratched a large pile of trash agains
e the base of a tree, and from this pla-
form gnawed the tree off above tn
swollen base. While he was gnawin
a splinter of wood wedged between HI
upper front teeth. This was pickle
out by catching it with the doubl
e nails Of the second toe on the rigf
hind foot. This aspen was ten inche
d in diameter at the point cut off. Tn
u diameter of trees usually cut is frol
three to six inches. The largest
their cutting that ever measured wa
a cottonwood with a diameter of 4
inches.-Enos A. Mills. in the Coul
tryside Magazine