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Show 26 ALONG LODGE POLE CREEK. subterranean passage, but is accounted for in the character of the soil which forms the bed of the stream. Where this disappearance takes place, it is of a coarse sand extending to a considerable depth, and as the water enters the sandy soil it sinks below the surface, and percolates through it until the character of the bed changes again, when the stream appears on the surface as before. Where it is hid den there is generally a dry sandy place above it, and by digging into this a foot below the surface the water can be seen pursuing its course towards the visible stream below. The course of the occasional disappearance of the creek operates also in producing great variation in its size. At one place it may be seen a narrow, sluggish stream, and a mile or two above, when passing over a bed of clay, it as sumes a large size with a brisk current. I said this occa sional disappearance of the stream was a peculiarity of Lodge Pole Creek j but I have been informed that such is a characteristic of the majority of the streams west of the Rocky Mountains. It was a novelty to me, and I have not visited the country where this is common. Along this creek, which " for short" is called " Pole Creek," I saw for the first time the ingeniously constructed beaver dams. In the abscence of large timber they are made of twigs placed ver tically, with one end imbedded in the bottom of the stream, and other twigs placed transwisely, and against the sort of net work thus formed, a thick layer of earth is piled so as to offer a sufficient resistance to the greatest pressure of wa ter that a rise in the stream may bring against it. Above the dams they construct their houses. Some are built up from the bottom of the stream, in the middle of it, and rounded off like a dome just above the surface of the water; but here they are made, principally, by burrowing into the banks with the dome- like top on the main land, instead of forming an island. The entrance to both classes are under water. The Beaver is exceedingly shy, and while I have seen hun dreds of dams and houses, and hundreds more of their skins after they have been dressed by the Indians, I have not yet seen one of the animals. |