LISTENING POINT by Sigurd F. Olson

Author:Sigurd F. Olson [Olson, Sigurd F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-82225-3
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2012-07-04T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

BEAVER CUTTING

JUST off the point a small aspen had been felled. Though there were no beaver dams near by, none of their houses in the bay or toward the river, the tooth marks were fresh and plain. This must have been a lone beaver cruising along the shore with an eye for a succulent bit of food, an old bachelor perhaps, shunned by his tribe and living by himself. The top had been carried into the water, and only part of the trunk had been gnawed.

This was the sign of Castor canadensis that men had followed for three hundred years as they followed the lure of gold. When they carried the emblem of France, the fleur-de-lis, into the hinterlands, it was the beaver that led them on. Pelts were so highly prized during those days that they were legal tender and men counted their wealth by how many they owned. Blankets, guns and supplies were rated by their worth in fur, and even today the famous Hudson’s Bay blankets carry the traditional mark of three or four points, indicating the number of hides it took to buy them. While there were other furs, the beaver set the standard and it was in search of them that expeditions set out for the northwest.

Radisson and Groseilliers are thought to have visited the country north of Lake Superior as far back as 1660 searching for new trapping-grounds and Indians who would trade. From that time until well after the Revolutionary War this was prized beaver country, and no one knows what fortunes in fur were packed across its portages to the waiting flotillas of canoes on Lake Superior. It was the beaver that opened up the routes of exploration.

By the last quarter of the nineteenth century, however, the trade had declined and beavers all but disappeared in the Quetico-Superior country. It may have been due to over-trapping, lack of food, or possibly disease. Not until the aftermath of logging and its inevitable fires that brought back their favorite food, the aspen and birch, did they return. By the 1920’s they were well on the way, but not until 1939 was there an open season on the United States side of the border. Between that time and 1955, according to Milton H. Stenlund, area biologist, 166,785 beavers were taken in Minnesota with a total value of three million dollars. It is of interest to note that the last year of record, 1955, showed the most pelts, a total of 22,500, proof of the durability of the species.

Beavers are highly important to the ecology of the north. Their ponds provide habitat for black mallards and wood ducks, forage and refuge from flies for deer and moose. Flowages and dams act as flood controls and water storage, and foresters depend on them during fires as barriers against the flames.

Trout fishermen are divided in their opinions. Some say that streams are improved because back of every dam is a pool. Others bemoan the fact that dams

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