well paid for our hunt, and moved up to the Musselshell river In
Montana.

In Montana we caught fine beaver, The beaver is a very instinctive
animal. There are several varieties, The Dam Builder, The Bank Beaver,
The Bachelor Beaver and the Drone Beaver. The beaver ranges in color
from white to black. I never saw a white one, and but one black one
except when I looked in the glass. The Beaver weighs from twenty to
thirty pounds in the United States, and from forty to fifty in Alaska.
His food is bark, young grass and such foods, They cut timber down and
know where it will fall. I ascertained this because I have known them to
leave trees alone which leaned the wrong direction for them to use. I
saw on the North Platte trees cut down by beaver which were four feet in
diameter. They make chips resembling a chopper with a dull ax. He cuts
his timber for winter and anchors it down four feet under water with mud
useing his tail as a scow and also for a spade.

Beaver dams are great hindrances to the man with a conoe, Beaver meadows
are splendid feeding grounds for deer and other animals. I have seen
beaver meadows--that is a place where the trees were all cut down and
used--covering hundreds of acres.

After breaking Camp we went to Cordelane Idaho, and from here to Frisco
then over to Austrailia, We sailed out from the Golden gate on the 5th
day of June and on the 20th day we reached Bellmont Aus. From here we
went by rail up the Darling river. We spent about fourteen or fifteen
days prospecting for a catch but found nothing inticing but hot winds
and hot sunshine, so we cut our visit short and returned to 'Frisco the
latter part of July--

We next went to Idaho and raked up our old gang with new accessories and
began trapping on the Clearwater and camped just below the Continental
Divide. We trapped to the St. Joe Divide and as far south as Bald
Mountains. The snow fall in this part is very heavy, we were making a
Deadfall one day when Billy Thorn made a miss cue with his heavy sharp
ax and severed his shin bone and nearly looped off his leg. The ax
struck about four inches below the knee, and nearly cut his leg
completely off. We were thirteen miles from headquarters camp. We made a
litter and carried him all the way. He nearly bled to death on the way.
There was no Dr. with in sixty miles. I thought it was up to me their
old Chief to perform an operation. I washed the wound out as clean as
posible, cutting away all sh