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