part n vc PAGES 33 TO 42 vol. xxm. POBTLA3TD, OREGON, SUNDAY MOBNINV OCTOBER 16, 1904. NO. 42. Colony of Industrious Beaver IDiscovefed Mot Far From Portland ONE BAND OF INTERESTING WOOD CHOPPERS SAVED . FROM DESTRUC- TION NOW-B'UILDING'WINTER HOMES COLONEL L. L. HAWKINS MAKES A NATURAL HISTORY FIND HE WILL TRY TO PROTECT FROM VANDALS V&f Oregon, and within a few hours statement that a herd of wild buffalo tfSM & - HJffimHIWtlOHi lollI rORKING among the woods .of Oregon, and -within a few hours drive of Portland, is a colony" of foresters that stand in a class by them selves. For untiring- energy, system of effort and exercise of Judgment they have few if any rivals. When speaking of foresters the thought is usually implied of a group .of brawny men armed with sharp axes and .saws and chains and teams and other imple ments usod by those of the human tribo who hew the forests for a livelihood. But it happens that the foresters, here in referred to antedate the latter class, and that, rather than being biped timber men, they are fur-clad quadrupeds the American beaver. Justly called the Kings of rodents. Their axes are the sharp and powerful teeth nature has provided them with, and they exercise amazing skill in the use of these, as in the other parts of their work in the forests. Por forestry Is their "chosen profession." and their lives and devoted to the cutting down of trees and utilising them to then own uses and purposes, chiefly for food and building their lodges. The announcement that there is a col ony of Jive beavers working in the for ests a comparatively short distance from Oregon's metropolis will seem quite as pers, hunters and pioneers as would statement that a herd of wild buffalo had .been sighted. For the disappearance of the beaver has been simultaneous with that of that distinctly American type, the buffalo. Fifty years ago the big rodent was plenteous throughout the region west of the Rockies, and in fact in the cold and temperate countries of both hemispheres Beaver dams checked many of the moun tain and forest streams, and broad clear ings among the stretches of smaller trees of the forests were frequently met with, and Its mound-shaped and substantially built habitations . dotted the creek banks in the vicinity of each series of dams. ' But, unhappily for the unlucky species, it became greatly prized for its valuable fur, for its toothsome flesh, and. coore than all else, for its castoreum, a secre tion of great medicinal value container in its glands. Thus, while nature had pro vided the rodent with superior powers of . combining- functions and adjusting acts to ends, it left it with those qualities that proved a sad misfortune to the ani mal when the value of these became known to that more highly evolved and covetous animal man. The adjustments of acts to ends made by-this relatively small but rarely intcl- dents, if you please commands at once ihe respect and admiration of any and all wno may care to take the .time to ob serve, or study its methods. Untiring- in his work, skilled In the performance of It, and using rare Judgment in nearly all its undertakings, the- beaver rightly lays claims to classification as a separate species. Col. L. L. Hawkins' Big Find. Because of the fact that the animal stands at this time practically extirpated, the local colony of beavers is of great importance and Interest. It gives an op portunity to study the beaver from a new viewpoint that of having made new adjustments, necessary to . the preserva tion of the colony, in such dangerous prox imity to the haunts of man. The site of the colony's habitat is 30 miles or thereabouts from Portland, on the ' Oregon side, of the Columbia River. It was found within the past few weeks, when its location was called to the atten tion of Colonel I I. Hawkins, the well known local naturalist, whoso research and collections from nature's storehouse has prevad'ef immense value to Portland. Since learning of the colony Colonel Haw kins has spent several days at the beaver habitation,, and bv collected much valu able 'dais- from, his observations. Incl- specimens of the beaver's wbrk as a for ester, and these will be added to his famed City Hall Museum. Among the specimens is the stump of a tree ZL Inches in diameter, which bad been gnawed down quite recently by the energetic colony. This establishes- a pre cedent, for, so far as record shows, the beaver seldom tackles a tree of more than 8 or 10 Inches diameter, and his work Is usually confined fo trees and willows from one to three inches thick. The newly discovered colony appears to have been in its present location about two years. The animals have selected a secluded and quiet place In the heart of a dense forest and on the banks of a quiet little trout stream. Three hundred fallen trees, black cottonwood, hazel. Pacific Ted cedar and Oregon alder are the kinds of trees they have worked among. They have not molested any fir trees, which dc not seem suitable for their needs. Protecting Themselves From Enemies The colony has built no dam, evidently concluding that such a structure would only serve to attract the eyes of their daily biped enemy and extirpator. As a substitute for a dam they have felled big trees Into the stream where many pieces of float wood, bearing teotkeesae