Transportation Facilities
Two successive dry years had greatly reduced the water-level of Lily Lake, and the consequent shallowness of the water made a serious situation for its beaver inhabitants. This lake covered about ten acres, and was four feet deep in the deepest part, while over nine tenths of the area the water was two feet or less in depth. It was supplied by springs. Early in the autumn of 1911 the water completely disappeared from about one half of the area, and most of the remainder became so shallow that beaver could no longer swim beneath the surface. This condition exposed them to the attack of enemies and made the transportation of supplies to the house slow and difficult.
In the lake the beaver had dug an extensive system of deep canals,—the work of years. By means of these deep canals the beaver were able to use the place until the last, for these were full of water even after the lake-bed was completely exposed. One day in October while passing the lake, I noticed a coyote on the farther shore stop suddenly, prick up his ears, and give alert attention to an agitated forward movement in the shallow water of a canal. Then he plunged into the water and endeavored to seize a beaver that was struggling forward through water that was too shallow for his heavy body. Although this beaver made his escape, other members of the colony may not have been so fortunate.
The drouth continued and by mid-October the lake went entirely dry except in the canals. Off in one corner stood the beaver house, a tiny rounded and solitary hill in the miniature black plain of lake-bed. With one exception the beaver abandoned the site and moved on to other scenes, I know not where. One old beaver remained. Whether he did this through the fear of not being equal to the overland journey across the dry rocky ridge and down into Wind River, or whether from deep love of the old home associations, no one can say. But he remained and endeavored to make provision for the oncoming winter. Close to the house he dug or enlarged a well that was about six feet in diameter and four feet in depth. Seepage filled this hole, and into it he piled a number of green aspen chunks and cuttings, a meagre food-supply for the long, cold winter that followed. Extreme cold began in early November, and not until April was there a thaw.
LAKE-BED CANALS AT LILY LAKE, OCTOBER, 1911
SECTION OF A 750-FOOT CANAL AT LILY LAKE
Here five feet wide and three feet deep
Before the lake-bed was snow-covered, all the numerous canals and basins which the beaver had excavated could be plainly seen and examined. The magnitude of the work which the beaver had performed in making these is beyond comprehension. I took a series of photographs of these excavations and made numerous measurements. To the north of the house a pool had been dug that was three feet deep, thirty feet long, and about twenty wide. There extended from this a canal that was one hundred and fifty feet long. The food basin was thirty feet wide and four feet deep. This had a canal connection with the house. In the bottom of the basin was one of the feeble springs which supply the lake. Another canal, which extended three hundred and fifty feet in a northerly direction from the house, was from three to four feet wide and three feet deep. The largest ditch or canal was seven hundred and fifty feet long and three feet deep throughout. This extended eastward, then northeasterly, and for one hundred feet was five feet wide. In the remaining six hundred and fifty feet it was three to four feet wide. There were a number of minor ditches and canals connecting the larger ones, and altogether the extent of all made an impressive show in the empty lake-basin.