Shaggycoat: The Biography of a Beaver

by Mrs. Molesworth

  CHAPTER XII

  THE BUILDERS

  When the tardy spring at last came to Beaver City, it was with a rush.

  On the first day of March the snow was three feet deep in the woodsalong the foothills, and two feet upon the smooth surface of thebeavers' lake. By the tenth of the month, one might search long to findeven a small snow-bank along the north side of the woods, or behind someprotecting boulder.

  The wind, the rain, and the sun had all combined to bring about thismarvelous change.

  For three days "it had rained suds," as the country people say, and thena merry south wind had blown across the fog-covered snow-banks.

  All the little streams hastening down the mountainside became ragingtorrents, and the larger stream emptying into Beaver Lake, fairly wentmad.

  In a single night it rose several feet, breaking up the ice, and tossingit about as a child might his toys.

  In some places the great gleaming cakes were shouldered out upon theshore, and piled up in massive blockhouses. In other places they jammed,making a very good ice dam across the stream. Then the water would setback until it felt strong enough to cope with the ice, when it wouldsweep the dam away and go thundering down-stream tossing the ice aboutand sweeping all before it.

  It was such a jam as this that dammed the water just above Beaver Lake,holding it until the stream foamed and raged like an infuriated monster.Then with a roar like thunder it burst through. Thousands of tons ofice accumulated and piled up mountains high. The ice in the lake wasbroken up like glass, and the mighty weight of all these contendingforces, pressed continually upon the beaver's strong dam.

  For a while the sturdy old pines which were the backbone of thestructure held, but finally, creaking, groaning and snapping, they werewrenched from their places, and with a great rush the beaver dam wentout. Then hundreds of grating, grinding, thundering cakes of icefollowed after the rushing waters.

  When the ice jam struck the upper end of the island where the lodgeswere, Shaggycoat knew that it was no place for him and his family, soled a precipitate flight for terra firma. They were fortunate enough tofind an open place between the cakes of ice at the lower end of theisland, and all escaped into the alder bushes along the shore.

  But they did not feel safe out in the open, with no house to flee to, soas soon as the ice went out and the water fell, they went back to theburrows.

  When the spring freshet had passed, even the entrances to thesestrongholds were left high and dry, and the broad area that had beentheir lake looked very much as it had the first time Shaggycoat saw it.

  It would never do to leave the female beavers and the youngsters in thisunprotected way while the males were off for their summer ramble, sothey constructed a brush and stone dam that should flow a small area,and make the lodges again tenable. This was done by weighting down thebrush with heavy stones, letting the butts of the bushes pointdown-stream. This structure was finally covered with sods and mud,making a good temporary dam.

  When Shaggycoat returned from his third summer of rambling in distantlakes and streams he brought back three sturdy pairs of beaver, whom hehad invited to share his pleasant valley.

  There was a definite plan in the wise head of our beaver, for thefurtherance of which he needed more help than his small colony nowafforded.

  When the water had stood six feet deep in the bed of the stream, wherethe old pines had been, it had flowed the lowlands from foothill tofoothill, and had stretched away up-stream until it was lost in thedistance. The picture of this silvern lake, sparkling and shimmering inthe bright spring sunlight, had captivated Shaggycoat, who had seen itall from a knoll on shore. The old dam and the old lake, covering abouthalf this territory, would never do for him again. There must be a dambuilt that would flow all this country, and he would be the builder.

  When the water had fallen, he had gone over the meadows, noting by thewatermark upon trees and bushes just how his lake would extend, and howdeep the water would be in certain places. The flood had surveyed themeadows for him, and all he had to do was to look about.

  He had noticed when the water stood six feet deep in the channel, thatthe width of the stream where the dam would be placed was about onehundred and fifty feet, so this would be the length of his dam.

  Although it was still early in the fall, no time was lost. The taskbefore them was seemingly almost impossible for such small creatures.

  Ten eager wood-cutters were sent up-stream about a mile to a poplargrove, where they began felling trees of from six to twelve inches indiameter. These were cut into logs about three feet in length, andtumbled into the stream. When it became choked or the sticks lodgedalong the shore, two or three beavers were detailed to act asriver-men, so they pushed and pulled, swimming about among the logsuntil the channel was free again. Several two-year-olds workedindustriously, gathering flood wood that had lodged upon the meadows,after the spring freshet. This was also pushed into the water andstarted down-stream.

  On the site of the new dam, Shaggycoat and Brighteyes, with one otherold beaver, were working away with might and main, straightening out theremains of the old dam, and getting the foundations of the new structureready.

  Soon the poplar logs came floating down to the waiting builders. Herethey were seized by strong paws, and carried upon sturdy backs to theirplace, in the cobwork dam.

  For the first two feet, the dam would be built three tiers wide. Thiswould make the thickness at the base about ten feet. The cracks betweenthe logs were plastered up with sods and mud or if it seemed to call formore weight stones were occasionally used.

  Soon the logs and drift-wood began to come down faster than the three atthe dam could handle it for it must be laid nicely, and often one stickwas placed in several positions before it suited. It would never do tohave any of this building material go down-stream so two or three of thecutting gang were shifted to the dam, and the work went on.

  Whenever the logs in the stream grew scarce, some of the workers at thedam went back to cutting logs. When the logs in the current jammed,river-men were quickly hurried to loosen them. There was one accidentthat marred the pleasure of dam-building and made the day memorable inthe colony. This did not stop the work, for these things happen in thewoods and the waters, where they get used to the unexpected.

  One of Shaggycoat's first litter, who was now a sturdy beaver of threesummers, was felling a poplar larger than most of the trees which theywere using.

  He was a famous wood-cutter, and wanted to distinguish himself bycutting a large tree. He had worked away all night, and when the othersstopped at daylight his tree was not yet down so he stayed to finish it,but, as the morning hours went by and he did not return to the lodge,Shaggycoat went in search of him.

  He found him lying at the stump of the fallen tree with his skullcrushed. He had evidently tried to take one more bite at the totteringtree, when a prudent beaver would have stopped, and his head had beencrushed between the stump and the falling trunk.

  This is an accident that sometimes occurs, although as a whole theselittle wood-cutters are very cautious.

  There was nothing to do in this case but leave the unfortunate victimwhere he had fallen, but the tree was never used.

  When the dam was two feet high, it was narrowed to two tiers of logs.Then they could get on faster, but the higher it went, the longer it hadto be carried out at the ends. As the water set back it was much easierto float the logs down.

  The three tiers of logs at the bottom of the dam were occasionally tiedtogether by putting on a log ten feet long that would lie across allthree tiers. The cutting and placing of such a stick would take thecombined strength of four or five beavers.

  When this long stick was ready, extra help was summoned and it wasrolled into the stream.

  About the same tactics were used in placing it in the dam, but, when itwas once placed, it tied the three tiers of logs firmly together.

  When the water rose too high above the dam, a small opening would bemade just
large enough to keep it a little below the working line.

  Thus, night after night they worked, felling trees, floating down logs,and placing them, bringing mud and sods, and slowly moulding the wholeinto a strong symmetrical structure.

  Men would have required skilful engineers with levels and otherinstruments and much figuring before the work had been begun, but not sothe beaver. The spring freshet had done the surveying to Shaggycoat'sentire satisfaction, and the small difficulties were overcome as fast asthey arose by their remarkable building genius.

  I do not suppose the beaver knew the old maxim that "water seeks itslevel," but they always acted as though they did, and were continuallyprofiting by the fact.

  Before the first of December, the dam was completed, at least for thatyear. This kind of a dam could be enlarged at any time, as the needs ofBeaver City grew.

  Then the lodges had to be attended to. The new level of water hadflooded the lower story of the old lodge on the island, so the top wasripped off, and a new floor laid and another story was added.

  While the old lodges were being repaired, four new houses went up, sothat the colony now numbered seven lodges, while the lake stretched backthrough the lowlands for more than a mile.

  Along the newly formed shores, alder bushes now stood deep in the water.When it had frozen over, and fresh bark could not longer be gotten,these bushes would be remembered.

  At last the great freeze came; the glass door was shut down over thelake, and Jack Frost installed as doorkeeper until spring-time.

  But what cared the beaver? Their lodges were now frozen like adamant,and the new dam was equal to the task put upon it. There were cords ofpoplar logs stored along the dam under the water, and thrust into themud about the lodges, so they could eat and sleep while the wintermonths went by. They had done their work well, and this was theirreward.