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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Muskrat City, by Henry Abbott
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Muskrat City
+
+Author: Henry Abbott
+
+Release Date: December 1, 2010 [EBook #34524]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MUSKRAT CITY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Linda M. Everhart, Blairstown, Missouri
+
+
+
+
+MUSKRAT CITY
+
+By
+HENRY ABBOTT
+
+NEW YORK
+1922
+
+Copyright 1922
+by
+HENRY ABBOTT
+
+
+
+MUSKRAT CITY
+
+The Irish cook one day proposed to the ship's captain the following
+conundrum: "Is anny thin' lost whin yeez know where 'tis?" The
+Captain assured him that in such case the thing was not lost. And
+Dennis responded: "Well, thin, shure, the ta-kettle is safe, for 'tis
+in the bottom av the ocean."
+
+Bige and I thought we were lost. We did not know the way to our
+destination. We did not know the way back home. But realizing that we
+were in the heart of the trackless forest, we knew we were perfectly
+safe.
+
+We had eaten an early breakfast that morning at the "Dan'l Boone
+Camp." We had made sandwiches for lunch, wrapped them in paper, tied
+the packages on the sides of our fish baskets, and had started for
+Plum Pond, where we expected to do some fishing.
+
+We had been walking five hours and had not yet reached Plum Pond.
+Indeed, we felt quite sure we had passed it, either on the right or
+on the left. Also, it was possible that we had been, for the last
+hour, going northwest instead of southwest. It was raining and we had
+not consulted the compass very often. It had been raining for the
+past three hours, and now the water was falling in a flood, and we
+were soaked to the skin. Our shoes were filled with water and as we
+plodded on it sloshed, sloshed, with every step. We were bewildered,
+but it would do no good to stop, or turn back, so we continued to
+push on.
+
+Presently, as we passed over a ridge and climbed down the steep
+hillside, we saw a cleared place in the bottom of the valley. Bige
+exclaimed, "Gosh!! Well I'll be doggoned! If that ain't Muskrat
+City." The map makers had not discovered the place, and Bige had
+never heard of it, yet the instant he saw it he knew its name was
+Muskrat City, and it shall so remain unless an act of legislature
+changes it.
+
+At the bottom of a deep valley, with steep hills on either side, in
+the center of a beaver meadow was a collection of a score or more of
+conical shaped mud huts, about two and a half feet high and three
+feet in diameter at the base. In each of these huts there lived a
+male muskrat, his wife and family of seven to nine children. There
+also were numerous bachelor muskrats, who lived by themselves in
+holes in the bank.
+
+Lest some of our readers may not be acquainted with a "beaver
+meadow," let us explain that at some period of time, long ago,
+possibly two hundred or maybe five hundred years ago, beavers lived
+here and built a dam across the brook as all beavers do. The dam
+backed the waters of the brook up and flooded the floor of the
+valley, thus drowning all the trees which were not cut and peeled by
+the beavers. These trees, of course, fell and decayed, so that not
+even stumps or roots were left. In the course of time the beavers
+either were exterminated by trappers or they had exhausted their food
+supply in that valley and then emigrated to some other stream. In the
+absence of the builders, who must constantly make repairs, the dam
+had broken and the brush it contained had decayed. Only the stones
+and dirt used in its construction remained to mark the spot where it
+had once held back a beaver pond covering several acres. This space
+had remained swampy for some years and trees did not grow upon it. It
+was now covered with a rank growth of grass.
+
+Many such places are found in the forest and they are always known as
+beaver meadows. They unquestionably mark spots where colonies of
+beavers once lived, though it might have been many years before.
+
+The far-sighted, fore-handed pioneers who settled in the state of
+Iowa, with prophetic wisdom and civic pride of hope, loaded the
+labels of their communities with the word "City." After the lapse of
+eighty years, the last census showed twenty-three "Cities" in that
+state having less than one thousand inhabitants each. Of these, six
+have less than three hundred each. "Promise City" in eighty years has
+acquired two hundred and seventy-eight inhabitants, while "Walnut
+City" beats the record with thirty.
+
+We then did not know, and we do not now know, how many inhabitants
+there were in Muskrat City, but we feel confident they outnumbered
+the citizens of some of the Iowa cities.
+
+By the time we had reached the floor of the valley, rain ceased to
+fall and in a few minutes the sun was shining. We were not only wet
+but we now realized that we were hungry. It was long past our usual
+lunch hour. Fish baskets were unslung from our backs and we found our
+sandwiches had been reduced by the rain to a mushy mess mixed with
+paper pulp. Indeed, a substantial part of our rations had been
+converted into liquid form and distributed along our route through
+the woods.
+
+Without wasting time in vain cussing or discussing, Bige at once set
+to work building a fire on the gravelly beach of the brook. This was
+one of those occasions when a waterproof match box proved useful. But
+one should also know how to build a fire in the woods without
+matches. Any Boy Scout can tell you how to do it.
+
+Nature has provided curly birch bark for kindling, for just such
+emergencies as this, and it is usually dry on the leeward side of the
+tree. In a few minutes a roaring, crackling fire was going, and our
+clothing--as much of it as native modesty would permit--was hanging
+on saplings which we had cut and stuck in the ground about the fire.
+
+While this work was under way I strung up my rod, went up the brook
+into the edge of the woods, and in a deep hole caught some trout. I
+got six fine ones in about twice as many casts.
+
+Bige dressed the fish while I got some striped maple leaves. They are
+about as large as cabbage leaves but thinner. Each fish was wrapped
+in one of these leaves which was tied on with a piece of string. The
+packages were then dipped in the brook to wet the leaves and were
+buried in hot ashes and covered with live coals. In about fifteen
+minutes we pulled our fish out of the fire. The wrappers were charred
+and they looked like burned sticks. Breaking them open we found the
+skin of the fish stuck to the charred leaves and it came free from
+the flesh, which was pink and steaming.
+
+For preserving the delicious flavor of freshly caught trout, this is
+the best method of cooking I know of. A thin inner layer of green
+birch bark, or a piece of paper, if one has it, will do for a
+wrapper.
+
+Other methods of cooking, in the absence of the usual culinary
+utensils, are numerous. One we have practiced as follows: The
+sharpened end of a slender green sapling is stuck through a fish's
+mouth and lengthwise into the solid part of its body. The other end
+of the stick, which should be three feet long, is pushed into the
+ground and the stick bent so as to bring the fish directly over a bed
+of live coals--not over the blaze. By this method several fish can be
+broiled at the same time. On other occasions we have built a bigger
+fire, with larger sticks of wood, found some flat stones twelve to
+fifteen inches across which we put in the fire and when they were
+quite hot, dragged them out, and laid our fish on the stones to cook.
+This also is an excellent way to cook bacon and we sometimes employ
+it even when a frying pan is handy. Of course, we washed the stones
+in the brook before they were put into the fire. But then, one can be
+quite sure that the fire will kill any stray microbe that the stone
+might harbor.
+
+Freshly peeled birch bark makes excellent plates on which to serve
+primitive meals such as described.
+
+Luncheon finished, and our clothes dry, we discussed our next move.
+Since no one was left at Dan'l's who might worry over our absence, we
+decided to remain at Muskrat City over night, then make an early
+morning start toward the beginning of a trail to civilization.
+
+In carrying out this program the first step was to prepare a shelter
+and a bed. The lack of an axe was a handicap, but our large pocket
+knives were made to serve. About ten feet from our fireplace lay the
+moss-covered body of a pine tree that had fallen out across the
+meadow, possibly fifty or seventy-five years ago. We cut two saplings
+and drove them into the ground seven feet from the log and five feet
+apart, leaving a fork on each of these posts five feet above the
+ground. A pole was laid across in the two forks, and other poles were
+laid sloping from this to the log. Then we peeled yellow birch bark
+to cover the roof and anchored the bark with heavy sticks above it.
+Brush piled against the two sides formed sufficient protection from
+the wind and the front was open toward the fire. Balsam boughs were
+gathered for the bed and some firewood collected; then we went down
+stream to fish and explore.
+
+During the past twenty-five years Bige and I have built many similar
+one-night shelters, in widely separated parts of the forest. We have
+slept under them with comfort when it rained. We have, on occasion,
+found white frost on the ground in the morning. The forest furnishes,
+free at hand, the materials required, and the labor involved is only
+an element of the pleasure of forest exploration.
+
+Half a mile down the brook we found it emptied into a larger stream,
+where we soon filled a basket with trout. Also we picked a hatful of
+raspberries. We returned to the city in time for an early supper and
+as we had no dishes to wash we had ample time to discuss our probable
+location and the most promising course to pursue in the morning.
+
+The chief charm of exploration lies in the uncertainty of always
+finding what one starts out to find, and in the equal certainty that
+one may find something else, possibly even more interesting or more
+valuable than what was on the program.
+
+Columbus failed to discover a western route to India, but he found
+something else, and got himself put into history and his bust in the
+hall of fame.
+
+Bige and I failed to reach Plum Pond, but we found a better thing.
+The fishing in our two brooks was all that could be desired. There
+were evidences that the hunting would be good in this "neck of the
+woods," when the hunting season should open, and it was unlikely that
+any other hunters would penetrate to this remote section. Bige saw
+great possibilities in the fur crop when the hunting should be over,
+and trapping begin.
+
+So, though we were hopelessly lost (?) in "an impenetrable forest,"
+we slept comfortably, and peacefully, crawling out of our nest only
+occasionally when the fire required another stick of wood. Only on
+such occasions did we see or hear the permanent residents of Muskrat
+City. As the fire was kicked together and a fresh stick thrown upon
+it, causing a shower of sparks to shoot upward, then would be heard a
+rapid succession of splashes as fifteen or twenty rats would plunge
+into the brook and scurry to their hiding places. Otherwise, they
+silently went about their business.
+
+About seven o'clock on the following morning, we climbed the ridge
+over which we had come into Muskrat City, and taking careful note of
+landmarks, we proceeded in a general eastward direction. One can
+usually see but a short distance in an unlumbered forest. After two
+hours of slow and difficult travel we climbed a high and steep hill.
+When we neared the top we noted a rocky ledge on the summit.
+Scrambling to the top of this, we had an unobstructed and extended
+view over valleys and foothills, and saw mountain peaks in every
+direction.
+
+  [Illustration: Owl's Head Mountain in the distance]
+
+A long distance off to the northeast loomed up the highest peak of
+all, which from its height and its two rounded, bare knobs, we knew
+to be Owl's Head Mountain. We also knew that it was but two miles
+from the top of Owl's Head to the Dan'l Boone Camp. We trained the
+compass on that peak and took a fresh start toward home. For many
+years Bige and I had hunted partridge and deer on every side of this
+mountain and over its foothills. On many occasions, also, we had been
+on its bald summit. So now, on returning to its shadow, we should be
+on familiar ground.
+
+Jim Flynn now lives on Owl's Head Mountain, from the time the snow
+has melted in the woods in late spring until the snow begins to fall
+again in the autumn. Jim is employed by the State Conservation
+Commission to watch out for fires in the forests. When Jim discovers
+the beginning of a fire anywhere in the range of his outlook, the
+fact and location is reported by telephone to the chief at fire
+headquarters, when men with tools are dispatched from the nearest
+settlement to put out the fire before it gets beyond control. This
+service was established in 1909 with lookout stations on the tops of
+all the high peaks in the Adirondack range. Since that date there
+have been no disastrous forest fires in that region.
+
+  [Illustration: Jim Flynn]
+
+Jim lives in a log cabin which he built just below the rocky ledge
+which covers the summit. On the high point a steel tower thirty-five
+feet high carries his lookout station above the tree tops. This is a
+rather lonely spot in which to live half the year. On rainy days,
+when there is little danger of a fire making headway, Jim is
+permitted to visit his family at the settlement on the lake, and to
+bring back fresh supplies.
+
+  [Illustration: Jim Flynn's Cabin]
+
+Jim is glad to have visitors call upon him at his mountain-top
+resort, and to encourage such he has made an excellent trail to the
+nearest point on Long Lake, about three miles, and has marked it with
+signs to point the way up the mountain. Jim will lend you his
+field-glass, name the points of interest in view, make coffee for
+you, if you bring the makings, and discuss with you the latest
+political questions, philosophy or religion.
+
+   [Illustration: Jim in his Look-out Tower]
+
+In a book entitled, "The Adirondack, or Life in the Woods," published
+in 1849, J. T. Headley, the author, writes about his visit to the top
+of Owl's Head Mountain, with his guide, Mitchell Sabattis, an Indian,
+and the first settler on Long Lake. Headley says that in returning
+they "lost their way and were fourteen hours without food." He
+describes the view from the top of Owl's Head as follows:
+
+"It looks off on a prospect that would make your heart stand still in
+your bosom. Look away toward that distant horizon! In its broad sweep
+round the heavens, it takes in nearly four hundred miles, while
+between slumbers an ocean but it is an ocean of tree tops. Conceive,
+if you can, this vast expanse stretching on and spreading away, till
+the bright green becomes shaded into a deep black, with not a sound
+to break the solitude, and not a hand's breadth of land in view
+throughout the whole. It is a vast forest-ocean, with mountain ridges
+for billows, rolling smoothly and gently on like the subsiding swell
+of a storm. I stand on the edge of a precipice which throws its naked
+wall far down to the tops of the fir trees below, and look off on
+this surpassing wild and strange spectacle. The life that villages,
+and towns, and cultivated fields give to a landscape is not here,
+neither is there the barrenness and savageness of the view from
+Tahawus. It is all vegetation--luxuriant, gigantic vegetation; but
+man has had no hand in it. It stands as the Almighty made it,
+majestic and silent, save when the wind or the storm breathes on it,
+waking up its myriad low-toned voices, which sing:
+
+  'The wild profound eternal bass
+  In nature's anthem.'
+
+Oh, how still and solemn it slumbers below me; while far away yonder,
+to the left, shoots up into the heavens the massive peaks of the
+Adirondack chain, mellowed here, by the distance, into beauty. Yet
+there is one relief to this vast forest solitude--like gems sleeping
+in a moss bed, lakes are everywhere glittering in the bright
+sunshine. How calm and trustingly they repose on the bosom of the
+wilderness! Thirty-six, a hunter tells me, can be counted from this
+summit, though I do not see over twenty. * * * Some of these are from
+four to six miles in width, and yet they look like mere pools at this
+distance, and in the midst of such a mass of green.
+
+I have gazed on many mountain prospects in this and the old world,
+but this view has awakened an entirely new class of emotions."
+
+  [Illustration: Jim entertaining a guest on the mountain]
+
+As Bige and I descended the steep slope from our lookout, we were
+quickly buried among the evergreens, with the only extended view
+toward the blue sky and floating clouds above the tall tree tops.
+Having in mind the experience of the previous day, the compass was
+frequently consulted, but travel was difficult and progress slow.
+
+An hour later we came upon a small log cabin, having a roof of spruce
+bark, no floor, but a puncheon door and one window. In one corner was
+a crude fireplace made of stones, having two lengths of stove pipe
+which passed through the window for a chimney. Opposite the fireplace
+was a balsam bed and in another corner was a pile of spruce gum.
+There were also a frying pan, tin plate, knife and fork, and on a
+bark shelf some food stuff. We left the shack and on a path a short
+distance from it, we met its owner who was returning. He was of
+uncertain age, but with white hair and white scraggy beard. He
+carried a bag partly filled with gum and in one hand a long pole
+having a small shovel-shaped piece of steel fastened to one end. This
+implement he used to loosen a ball of gum that was too high on the
+tree trunk to be otherwise reached.
+
+The man proved to be Sam Lapham. Bige knew him and I had often heard
+about him. Sam spent most of the summer collecting spruce gum, which
+he was able to sell for a good price. This unfrequented part of the
+forest was one of his camping places during the "gumming season." The
+sticky juice of the spruce tree oozes out through cracks in the wood,
+and collects on the bark where it hangs in lumps from the size of a
+child's thumb up to the dimensions of a hen's egg. In the course of
+years of exposure to the air this pitchy material crystallizes,
+"ripens," and becomes spruce gum. On inquiry we learned that there is
+a constant demand for spruce gum, but an insufficient supply since
+few make a business of collecting it. It appears that a few pounds of
+clarified spruce gum and an equal quantity of "chicle" from South
+America are mixed with a carload of paraffine wax and some flavoring
+extract, the result being the "chewing gum" of commerce which is
+distributed by the one-cent slot machines, and furnishes exercise for
+the jaw muscles of the rising generation. It has been estimated that
+more than five million dollars are expended for chewing gum in the
+United States every year.
+
+  [Illustration: Blue Mountain seen from Owl's Head]
+
+It also is possible to chew pure spruce gum, just as it is broken
+from the tree trunk. I have tried it. In this operation one must
+"watch his step" to avoid lockjaw. At least, caution must be
+exercised until the quid is well "started." I understand that in some
+places it is possible, at an increased cost, to buy spruce gum that
+has been "started."
+
+We reached Dan'l's in time for a late luncheon and were none the
+worse for our exploit. While we were on our lookout mountain we
+recognized several lakes and ponds and learned that Plum Pond was a
+long way from Muskrat City and to the south of it. Also, while there,
+on a piece of birch bark we made a topographical map of the region in
+view and laid out a new route to Muskrat City. This route was not a
+direct bee-line. It was circuitous, but it would avoid the swamps,
+the deep valleys and the steep ridges, and also would enter the city
+following up along the brook.
+
+Having gone out to our headquarters on the lake for fresh supplies, a
+week later we made another trip to Muskrat City. This time we carried
+a small tent, an axe and food to last a week. While there we built a
+log lean-to camp. It was placed on a shelf, or narrow level space on
+the steep hillside, about seventy feet above the bottom of the
+valley. The shelf was just wide enough for our building and the
+fireplace in front. There were plenty of stones on the ground with
+which we built the fireplace. We chose this elevation for our
+building site because it would be above the fogs that often at night
+settle in the bottom of a valley, on a stream or pond.
+
+  [Illustration: Owl's Head over the roof of the saw mill]
+
+A rill, tumbling down the steep hillside, draining a cold spring
+above, passed within thirty yards of the camp and supplied us with
+the kind of drinking water that, in the city, we buy for thirty cents
+a quart. This is a commodity that Nature distributes with lavish hand
+throughout this entire mountain region. On every hillside may be
+found one or more springs of pure soft water having a temperature of
+approximately forty degrees on the hottest days of summer. Here, the
+rheumatic, the dispeptic, the diabetic, and the fellow with kidneys,
+may have the poisons washed out of his system; while the balsamic air
+heals the rent in his breathing machinery. These processes may go
+forward, not while he sits on a hotel porch and broods over his
+troubles, but while he camps, explores, fishes, hunts and forgets his
+disabilities.
+
+  [Illustration: Inside of Camp at Muskrat City]
+
+Bige and I made many trips to, and spent many days at, Muskrat City.
+We explored a large section of forest country adjacent thereto. In
+the season, we frequently ate broiled partridge, venison and other
+game, while a few minutes of fishing any day would furnish all the
+trout we ever cared to eat. When we required a variation in diet, we
+might go down stream about two miles to a pond and catch a mess of
+bullheads or frogs.
+
+We made the acquaintance of many fur-bearing animals who lived in the
+neighborhood. In these Bige took a deep interest, since he was always
+looking forward to the winter season, when he should extend his old
+trapping line over the mountains to this valley. This, indeed, was
+one of the motives that induced the building of the camp. It provided
+a sleeping place for him at the outer end of his trapping circuit.
+
+Personally, for many years, I have not engaged in the very strenuous
+sport of trapping. I shall, therefore, represent the trapper by
+proxy. When the snow in the forest is from four to five feet deep,
+one may travel on snowshoes over the tops of witchhopple bushes and
+much other underbrush which in summer impedes travel. Nevertheless,
+it is not child's play to drag a pair of snow shoes fifteen or twenty
+miles per day, visit a hundred and fifty traps, rebait and reset
+them, skin the caught animals, and carry home the hides. All of this,
+of course, must often be done when the thermometer is far below zero.
+On so long a trapping line as this would be, a comfortable boarding
+house at the outer end of the loop was, for many reasons, very
+desirable.
+
+One of the frequent visitors to the brook that ran through Muskrat
+City below our hillside camp, was a mink. She often caught small
+trout, from three to five inches long. Some of these were eaten on
+the spot, others were carried to her nest in a hole in the bank. They
+doubtless were fed to her family of nine half grown young minks.
+
+  [Illustration: A Mink]
+
+The mink is a small animal, having a long, slender body and short
+legs. It walks rather clumsily, with back arched upward, but it can
+go rapidly and gracefully in a springing, bounding movement. In this
+manner it often travels long distances. In a farming section, mink
+will rob the hen-house, eating eggs and killing young chickens. In
+the woods, mink catch mice, frogs and eat eggs of water fowl, but
+they specialize on small fish. In trapping mink, a piece of fish
+makes good bait. A large number of mink skins are required in making
+a fur garment for a human to wear, but considering its small size the
+trapper gets a good price for a mink skin.
+
+On the hillside back of our camp, on occasions, a marten might be
+seen chasing a red squirrel over the ground, up a tree trunk, through
+the branches, jumping from one tree to another, and generally
+catching and eating the squirrel. We don't care if he does. The red
+squirrel eats the eggs of the partridge and our sympathies are with
+the partridge.
+
+The marten is one of the most graceful and beautiful animals in our
+forests. It has a rich brown coat and lives in remote, inaccessible
+parts of the wilderness. It is more shy of the human animal than is
+the mink. It is also about three or four times the size of mink and
+will sometimes attack and kill a mink or a rabbit. The marten will,
+when possible, vary his diet by eating nuts and small fruit.
+
+The marten makes a nest of moss, grass and leaves, in a hollow tree
+or log or among rocks. They have also been found living in a
+squirrel's nest, doubtless after killing the squirrels. Bait your
+trap for a marten with a chipmunk, a wood-rat or a piece of meat.
+
+  [Illustration: A Marten]
+
+A woodchuck sometimes ambled through one of the paths in the grass of
+the meadow. A farmer would strenuously object to the presence of a
+woodchuck in his meadow, where this animal would destroy a surprising
+quantity of clover. In this forest meadow no one objected, and since
+the woodchuck does not eat fish or flesh he was never molested. His
+wife, however, must guard her young, as there are several
+unscrupulous residents of this forest who would eat them without the
+slightest compunction.
+
+Another fellow prowled about our valley, though he lived on the
+ridges. He is larger than a marten and is also a handsome animal, but
+of a somewhat different type. He sometimes attains an extreme length
+of three and one-half feet and weighs eighteen or twenty pounds. He
+is known as a "fisher." Sometimes, also, called "black-cat" or
+"black-fox." The fisher is very ferocious and is feared by all
+animals not larger than himself. He is powerful and agile; the
+swiftest and most deadly of all the smaller forest carnivores. He
+will kill marten, mink, raccoon, muskrat, rabbit, and sometimes a
+fox. A fisher will attack a porcupine, tipping him over and biting
+into his stomach and the underpart of the body, where there are no
+quills. Nevertheless, fisher, when trapped, are often found with
+porcupine quills in the skin and in various parts of the body.
+
+The fisher catches trout, and gets larger ones than would satisfy the
+mink, so he is no friend of ours. The fisher also is charged with the
+crime of following the trail of the trapper through the woods,
+robbing his traps and eating the animals caught in them. Bige vowed
+that he "would get that fellow next winter," and he "would get
+thirty-five dollars for his hide." (Now it would bring a much larger
+sum.) The proper procedure would be to set a second and larger steel
+trap, carefully covered and chained to a tree, but without bait, in
+such a position that when the fisher undertakes his high-handed game
+of robbery he will walk on and be himself caught in the second trap.
+
+There was, of course, our old friend, the raccoon. He will find a
+camp anywhere, and if one is not careful he will find the camp larder
+and get away with the food. The coon has hands (fore feet) like a
+monkey, and he can use them as skillfully. The coon will eat anything
+a human will eat, and some other things. He takes his toll of frogs
+and trout, and he does not scorn the trimmings of trout we dress for
+our own table. Almost any kind of bait will do for the coon trap, and
+a coon-skin automobile coat will do for either man or woman having
+the price.
+
+Red foxes seldom were seen in daylight at our city camp, though at
+night they were often heard barking. The fox is a very interesting
+animal and whether living in an open farming country or in the deep
+forest, he is credited with "living by his wits." By his acts he
+exhibits remarkable reasoning powers and adaptability to conditions
+that arise, though they may never before have been met. In the woods
+his food is similar to that of the marten, although he cannot climb a
+tree to capture his prey. The fox specializes on partridge and other
+birds that nest on the ground.
+
+About a trap, the fox is very foxy. Tracks in the snow show when he
+has visited one, and he will usually succeed in springing a trap
+without getting caught in it. No matter how carefully it may be
+concealed, he can, and often does, pull the trap out, tip it over,
+spring it from the under side, then take out the bait. Every trapper
+has his pet method of circumventing this foxy trick. The favorite
+systems include the use of a second un-baited trap, which the fox is
+expected to step on while he is playing with the baited trap.
+
+The dream and hope of the lifetime of every trapper is to some day
+catch a freak, black or silver grey fox; the skin of which commands a
+fabulous price. Such a catch would be like finding a gold mine. Of
+course, if these freak foxes were oftener caught, their fur would be
+less valuable.
+
+The fact that, notwithstanding the number of trout eaters, including
+ourselves, who lived or roamed in our valley, there were still many
+trout in the streams, was to our minds conclusive proof that there
+were no otter in the neighborhood. An otter will clean the trout out
+of a brook in a few days. He will eat many and leave the rest dead on
+the bank, then move to another fishing place, ten or fifteen miles
+away. But there is no proof that an otter might not wander through
+this valley some time in the winter when the traps are set. The otter
+is a great traveler; also, in a fur store he is an aristocrat.
+
+The varying hares, white rabbits, or snow-shoe rabbits, as they are
+variously designated, were plentiful in and near Muskrat City. They
+were often seen in the early dusk of evening, seldom in mid-day.
+They, in common with many small forest animals, are night prowlers.
+Doubtless for protective purposes, Nature provides this animal, like
+the deer and some others, with the faculty of changing the color of
+its coat with the change of seasons. When the snow falls in autumn,
+this breed of rabbit molts its brown summer fur and takes on a new
+coat as white as the snow itself. Again, when the snow melts and
+disappears in spring the varying hare sheds its white fur and
+acquires a new coat of brown for summer wear. The hind feet of this
+animal are exceptionally large, especially in winter when the long
+spreading toes are entirely covered with still longer fur, thus
+forming broad snow-shoe shaped pads which enable their owner to
+freely move about on deep soft snow. It is a curious fact that the
+tracks left in the snow by this animal show the large spreading
+prints of the two hind feet, placed ahead of the smaller imprints of
+the fore feet, which at the end of a lope always bring up in the
+rear.
+
+When startled, this rabbit has the habit of rapidly thumping on the
+ground with its hind feet, making a dull drumming sound which may be
+heard for a considerable distance. This thumping also is said to be a
+signal employed during the mating season.
+
+Several years ago I witnessed a fight between one of these rabbits
+and a domestic cat. The rabbit was a captive, enclosed by a tight
+fence in a pen about sixteen feet square, in one corner of which was
+a covered nest containing seven young rabbits. The cat had climbed
+into the pen and was trying to steal a baby rabbit, when the mother
+jumped on the cat's back and beat a rapid tatoo thereon with its hind
+feet, and doubtless with toe nails extended, as the air was filled
+with flying fur. The cat escaped over the fence, but for many days it
+went about with a sore back, unprotected by its normal coating of
+fur.
+
+The snow-shoe rabbit is generally defenseless against its many forest
+enemies, and falls an easy victim to the trapper. It is a strict
+vegetarian in diet, and in its forest home does no harm to man or
+other animal.
+
+The muskrats, who owned the city, however, were most in evidence.
+They held the center of the forest stage, and always secured the most
+attention. Perhaps this was because there were more of them in our
+valley than there were of any other animal. Possibly because the
+muskrat is the most numerous of any fur-bearing animal in North
+America. It is reported that in 1914 ten million American muskrat
+skins were sold in London. Of course, during the same year other
+millions were sold in the fur markets in various cities in the United
+States.
+
+  [Illustration: A Muskrat and his house]
+
+The muskrat has a compact body about twelve inches long from nose to
+root of tail. The tail is long, naked and scaly, slightly flattened
+vertically. It is used as a rudder in the water. The hind feet have
+short webs and are otherwise adapted for swimming. Its fur is fine
+and dense, interspersed with long, coarse hairs. Its color is dark
+umber brown, except on the stomach, which is grey. It has a musky
+odor due to secretions of a large gland. The muskrat is very
+prolific, usually having several litters of young in a season,
+totaling often as many as eighteen during a summer.
+
+Muskrats feed on roots and stems of succulent water plants and other
+vegetables, varied with an occasional frog, fish, or fresh-water
+clam. A muskrat who lives near our cottage has the habit of opening
+clams and leaving the shells on our dock every night. The shells we
+are obliged to sweep off in the morning. "Musky" builds on the marsh,
+in the edge of a pond or near a stream, a curious cone-shaped house
+or lodge. He stores up roots and grasses for winter use, frequently
+building these in with mud into the walls of his house. Then in case
+of shortage of other food, he eats his house.
+
+Bachelor or unmated muskrats sometimes dig holes in the bank of pond
+or stream, making the entrance under or near the water. Also, they
+sometimes build nests in tangled grass or a brush pile.
+
+A muskrat skin brings to the trapper a smaller return in unit value
+than any other fur-bearing animal he captures. But he gets more of
+them, so if market conditions are favorable the total revenue from
+his catch is likely to be satisfactory. In the manufacture of fur
+garments, however, the humble muskrat holds an important place. In a
+fur factory, by the skillful use of tweezers for pulling out the
+coarse grey hairs, by the use of clipping and singeing machines, with
+the aid of dyes ("made in Germany") of various colors, his skin is
+effectually disguised and it emerges therefrom not only in larger
+numbers than the skins of any other four-footed beast, but completely
+transformed in appearance, and masquerading under more different
+aliases than are permitted to all the other fur animals combined.
+
+For example, the former resident of Muskrat City might appear in the
+showroom of the fur dealer as "river mink," "mountain marten,"
+"valley sable," "spruce beaver," "brook fisher," "domestic raccoon,"
+"hillside fox," "fresh-water otter," "Hudson seal," etc., etc. Also,
+sometimes he does good service under plain "muskrat."
+
+During many seasons since our first visit trappers have taken from
+their backs the coats of many residents of Muskrat City. These have
+been transformed and now, in cold weather and in hot weather, cover
+the backs of women in other cities. Also, their four-footed neighbors
+have captured and eaten many muskrats; nevertheless, the colony seems
+to be just as numerous as when we first knew it.
+
+The snows of twenty winters have fallen in the forest since Bige and
+I put Muskrat City on the map, and since we built the camp on the
+hillside above it. Other trappers have followed Bige's trail through
+the woods and have taken their toll of the inhabitants. But I am
+confident that if a census were taken today, it would be found that
+in population Muskrat City is holding its own quite equal to some of
+the cities in Iowa.
+
+Doubtless it is a wise provision of Nature that those animals, birds
+and fishes which are most killed and eaten by others are made most
+prolific. Such thinning of their ranks may be necessary to avert
+famine, disease or some worse disaster among them. In view of their
+many predatory enemies, not forgetting the human killer of fish, it
+is marvelous that any trout of legal size are found in a brook.
+
+Noises of the forest night are always interesting. While the camp
+fire burns, the forest people in its immediate vicinity are generally
+quiet. The fire is an unusual experience for them. It attracts them.
+They are fascinated by it, as are small boys by a circus, and while
+it burns they are likely to suspend their usual occupations and watch
+the flare and flicker of the blaze and the weird shadows it casts.
+Many of the less timid may approach quite near, others more wary will
+circle quietly and cautiously about at a considerable distance but
+always in view of the fire. If there should happen to be a light fall
+of snow on the ground the tracks visible in the snow in the morning
+will disclose the names of the visitors at the camp fire.
+
+Later at night, however, when the fire has died down, and is no
+longer visible, one's forest neighbors will resume their usual
+occupations, and the wakeful camper may listen to the patter of
+hurrying footsteps, to the scratch of toe-nails on bark as a climber
+goes up or down a tree trunk, to the sniff of the inquisitive fellow
+who smells about the camp, to the chatter of the chap who talks to
+himself, to the loping or jumping noises, to the splashes in the
+brook, to the last despairing cry of some small animal as his life is
+being crushed out by his captor. A deer, softly stepping along his
+beaten path which leads down the valley to a pond where he goes every
+night for drink, for water plants, or just to wallow, may encounter a
+breeze bringing to his nostrils the human scent. He then will blow
+his bugle blast, which can be heard a mile. In such case the wakeful
+camper is never in doubt as to who spoke. The same is true when the
+owl booms out across the valley his eternal question, "Who?" No other
+bird or beast ever speaks in the same tone of voice. But most of the
+smaller noises of the forest night are subjects for speculation. One
+always instinctively tries to analyze and allocate each noise to its
+author. In this game an intimate knowledge of the habits of forest
+residents is useful, so that, at the camp breakfast in the morning,
+one may confidently assert that so and so visited the camp last
+night!
+
+When, as sometimes happened, both Bige and I were wakeful at the same
+time, the breakfast hour was made interesting by differing opinions,
+and discussions over the habits and identity of our noisy neighbors.
+There are, of course, many birds and a few animals who sleep at
+night, and are met with only in the daytime. These were not
+considered in our discussions.
+
+One night at Muskrat City, both Bige and I were suddenly awakened by
+most unusual sounds coming from the direction of the hillside across
+the valley. Bige sprang up to a sitting posture, exclaiming,
+"Sufferin' Cats! Did you hear that noise?" I did; and expressed the
+opinion that "the suffering of the cats was acute." Immediately, the
+sounds were repeated, if possible louder than before. It would be
+difficult accurately to describe those sounds. We were reminded of
+disputes we had heard, in the back yard, between two Thomas cats,
+whose wordy arguments over their respective claims to "Mariah" often
+ended in scratching and hair-pulling. I, however, never met any tom
+cat who could produce one-tenth of the volume of noise that came
+across that valley.
+
+There were two voices, one a little higher pitched than the other,
+and both talked at once. Beginning in a low-toned complaining wail
+like the last despairing cry of a lost soul entering perdition,
+remarks would follow each other in crescendo volume, and in ever
+increasing rapidity, epithets would be fired by the contestants until
+the snarling, sarcastic statements were fairly spat out, ending in
+shrieks that could be heard miles. After an interval of a few seconds
+during which the disputants seemed to have changed their positions,
+the argument was renewed, proceeding as before except that with each
+repetition the anger and violence of the scrappers increased. At the
+height of one of these tirades there was heard the scratching and
+tearing of toe-nails on bark as one wordy fighter seemed to chase the
+other up the trunk of a tree and through the branches. This was
+quickly followed by two thuds as of one heavy body after another
+striking the ground, then the breaking of sticks, the rustle of
+leaves and brush as the two animals raced up the steep hillside. The
+race was punctuated by snarling, snapping sounds, which died away in
+the distance as the language fighters passed over the ridge until the
+sounds finally became inaudible. It was a dark night, and at no time
+did we get a glimpse, even indistinctly, of the scrappers. We are
+still speculating and wondering who or what they were.
+
+This story has been told to many hunters and trappers familiar with
+Adirondack forests. Opinions have been sought as to the probable
+identity of these belligerent animals. So far, no plausible or
+reasonable suggestion has been made. Some of the old-timers say the
+tale reminds them of experiences of fifty or sixty years ago, when
+the bay-lynx, bobcat or wild-cat made these woods and mountains their
+home and hunting ground; but they have been exterminated. None of
+these cats have been seen for more than a generation.
+
+Neither Bige nor I are acquainted with any animal capable of making
+the particular kind of noise we heard that night at Muskrat City. Our
+suggestion is, that possibly the wild-cats have come back.
+
+One winter an unusual number of snow storms occurred, following each
+other in rapid succession until there was an accumulation of snow
+over five feet deep throughout the forest and on the roof of our camp
+at Muskrat City. This was followed by rain and freezing weather,
+turning the snow into ice. The great weight of ice and snow proved
+too heavy for the roof and it was broken down. In the following
+spring a large maple tree fell across the camp and crushed it into a
+tangled, shapeless wreck. Our log camp at Muskrat City has
+disappeared, but as a memory it shall remain forever!
+
+
+
+END OF MUSKRAT CITY
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Muskrat City, by Henry Abbott
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