the woods in various directions, sometimes for 100 yards or more, and thus render accessible a large number of trees otherwise out of reach. These canals are kept open with great pains, while the rest of the pond becomes gradually grown up with grass, and they form avenues along which lodges and burrows are placed, and where the colony may swim freely, and float their food and building materials from the woods to their lodges and dams, of which latter, on a long-tenanted and favorable stream, several may exist. This perfection of beaver economy is by no means seen everywhere, but might commonly be observed previous to 1850 in such highly favorable regions as the swampy forests about the headwaters of the Mississippi, and it is being renewed in northern Maine, where, under the protection of law, beavers are increasing and reoccupying their ancient haunts.
Economic Considerations.—Beavers are closely related to the squirrels, and, like them, ‘sit up’ a great deal, holding their food up to their mouths in their fore paws, which otherwise are used very dexterously. It is needless to contradict the many foolish stories as to the use of the tail as a vehicle for carrying mud, a trowel for applying it, and so on. The animals live well in confinement, and colonies are nourishing in zoölogical gardens and parks in New York, Washington, and other American cities, as well as abroad, where small, watered valleys, fenced with wire, are devoted to them. In closer captivity they betray their constructive instincts by weaving the sticks supplied them into the bars of their cages. They have usually four young at a birth, and keep them at home for two years.
The fur of the beaver, by reason of its softness and density, is one of the most valuable yielded by any animal, and in former times was the staple of the fur trade, especially in America, when the early prosperity of Canada and New York was based upon it. (For statistics see Furs and the Fur Trade.) It is probable that only the invention of silk-plush applied to the making of hats saved the animal from extinction long ago. Beavers were obtained mainly by wasteful methods of trapping, and they are so obtained yet, and chiefly in winter. Their nocturnal habits and extreme shyness make the shooting of them impracticable. Their flesh is esteemed by the Indians and frontiersmen.
Large glandular pouches, two in number, closely connected with the organs of reproduction, contain the substance called castoreum (q.v.). Its uses in the animal economy are by no means well known; they are probably analogous to those of musk and civet, but its peculiar pungent odor is so attractive to beavers that use is made of it as a bait for beaver-traps.
The beaver family dates from the middle of the Tertiary period, a fossil species of very large size occurring in the Upper Pliocene of Europe. Fossils of a small size and some distinctive peculiarities are found in the Miocene of the United States.
Bibliography. Consult: Harting, British Animals Extinct Within Historic Times (London, 1880); Morgan, The American Beaver and His Works (Philadelphia, 1868—illustrated); H. T. Martin, Castorologia (Montreal, 1892—illustrated); standard works (see Mammal). Compare Coypu.
BEAVER, James Addams (1837—). An American soldier and politician, born at Millerstown, Pa. He graduated at Jefferson College (Canonsburg, Pa.), in 1856, and practiced law from 1859 to 1861. From 1861 to 1864 he served in the Federal Army, and in the latter year was mustered out with the rank of brevet brigadier-general. He was major-general of the Pennsylvania National Guard until 1887, and from 1887 to 1891 was Governor of the State. He was a delegate to the National Republican Convention of 1880, and in 1898 was appointed a member of the President's commission for the investigation of the War Department.
BEAVER DAM. A city in Dodge County, Wis., 65 miles northwest of Milwaukee; at the outlet of Beaver Lake, and on the Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul Railroad (Map: Wisconsin, E 5). It is the market for a fertile district, and has good water-power, flour, cotton and woolen mills, malleable-iron works, cold-storage plant, and manufactures of machinery, lumber, staves, etc. The city contains parks, a public library of 10,000 volumes, and Wayland Academy. Settled in 1841, Beaver Dam was incorporated in 1856. It is governed, under a revised charter of 1889, by a mayor, elected biennially, and a city council. Population, in 1890, 4222; in 1900, 5128.
BEAVER DAM CREEK, Battle of. See Mechanicsville, Battle of.
BEAVER FALLS. A borough in Beaver County, Penn., 31 miles northwest of Pittsburg; on the Beaver River, near its confluence with the Ohio, and on railroads of the Pennsylvania and Erie systems (Map: Pennsylvania, A 3). It is in a region which abounds in natural gas and coal, and has manufactures of steel, iron, wire, axes, shovels, glassware, tubing, files, pottery, etc. The borough is the seat of Geneva College (Reformed Presbyterian), organized in 1848, and contains fine post-office and municipal buildings, and Riverview Park. Beaver Falls was originally called Brighton, and was chartered as a borough in 1868. It is governed by a mayor, elected for three years, and a city council, which elects administrative officials. Population, in 1890, 9735; in 1900, 10,054.
BEAVER IS′LANDS. A group of islands in Lake Michigan, about 40 miles west of the Straits of Mackinac, and forming part of Charlevoix County, Mich. (Map: Michigan, H 3). They derive their name from the largest of the group, Beaver Island. The township of Saint James, on Beaver Island, has a population, according to the census of 1900, of 420; Peaine township having 372 inhabitants. Several lighthouses are maintained on these islands. The Mormons made an unsuccessful attempt to found a settlement there in 1846.
BEAVER STATE. Popular name of Oregon. See States, Popular Names of.
BEA′VERWOOD. See Magnolia.
BEBEE′RINE (from bebeery, the native name of the tree). A bitter alkaloid occasionally used in medicine, in the form of its sulphate, as a substitute for quinine, and, on account of its stimulating action on the stomach, as a stomachic. It is obtained from the bark of the Greenheart-tree (Nectandra rodiœi of the order Laurineæ), indigenous to British Guiana.
BEBEE′RU. See Greenheart.
