BEAVER IN PERIL OF EXTINCTION IN MICHIGAN.
Unless the State lawmaking body intervenes with protective legislation,there will be a great slaughter of beavers in Upper Michigan less thana year hence. The law which prohibits killing the little fur-bearinganimals expires with the close of January, 1910.
For more than eight years beavers have been protected, and that theyhave thrived is shown by the fact that large colonies are to be foundon many streams in different portions of the peninsula.
Whether the animals are worthy of continued protection is a questionconcerning which divergent views are held. From a humanitarianstandpoint most persons doubtless would be sorry to see the closedseason abolished. It is the opinion of lumbermen, however, that beaversare a nuisance. This is because of the work of the animals in buildingdams. The streams obstructed in this manner, the water is often backedup and extensive areas are flooded, interfering with the log drives andfrequently resulting in considerable property loss.
The dams in most cases are amazingly well constructed. Marvelousingenuity is shown by the builders, and so systematically are theoperations carried on that the work accomplished is almost beyondbelief.
Last fall when the water in Dead River fell to such a low stage thatit was hardly possible to keep Marquette's municipal electric plant incommission, investigation resulted in the discovery that the stream wasdammed at more than a score of places. Large reservoirs had thus beencreated. The obstructions were the work of beavers, good-sized coloniesof which were domiciled at every point where the river was found to beblocked.
So stanchly constructed were the dams that the use of dynamite wasnecessary to destroy them. It was found that trees as large as teninches in diameter had been utilized, and in almost every instancethe timber had been cut into four-foot lengths. Firmly set into placeand plastered with mud, the logs formed a substantial barrier, and,augmented with small sticks and brush, they were successful in backingup the river until at one point the stream was more than a mile inwidth.
However, although the beavers occasion material havoc of this sort,they do not want for friends who would resent such action as wouldleave the animals open to wholesale slaughter. It is pointed out that,while the beavers have multiplied greatly the last few years and arenow very plentiful, as the result of the imposition of the closedseason, it would require only a few months' work to exterminate theanimals entirely.
Choice beaver skins, such as are procurable in upper Michigan, are indemand from furriers, and it is unquestioned that with the expirationof the present statutory protection, waters frequented by the littleanimals would witness a swift and sanguinary onslaught by scores oftrappers.