The lakes
are so numerous and the ponds and rivers so fitted for them, that they
must have had a good time of it here for centuries. The Indians never
disturbed them, never made war upon them; their flesh was not needed
or fitted for food, and the value of their fur was unknown. Tradition,
speaking from the dim and shadowy past, tells us of the vast numbers
of these sagacious and harmless animals which congregated in these
regions, living in undisturbed quiet and happiness all the year,
building their dams, their canals, and cities on all the ponds,
rivers, and lakes hereabouts. But they are all gone now. I inquired if
any had been seen of late years, and could hear of but a single
family, which some ten years ago were said to dwell somewhere in the
vicinity of Mud Lake, the highest and wildest of all these mountain
lakes. The last of these was taken four or five years ago, since which
no sign of the beaver has been discovered. They are doubtless all
gone, and as this was their last abiding-place, they may be regarded
as extinct on this side of the Alleghany ranges, and probably on this
side of the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Like the beaver,
the Indian who turned against him, will soon be gone too. Annihilation
is written as the doom of both. The wild man must pass away with the
woods and the forests, before the onward rush of civilization, and
history will soon be all that will remain of the Indian and his
ancient brother the beaver.
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