Once They Were Hats: In Search of the Mighty Beaver

By Frances Backhouse

Discover deeper truths and quirky facts that cast new light on this keystone species

Beavers, those icons of industriousness, have been gnawing down trees, building dams, shaping the land, and creating critical habitat in North America for at least a million years. Once one of the continent’s most ubiquitous mammals, they ranged from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Rio Grande to the edge of the northern tundra. Wherever there was wood and water, there were beavers — 60 million (or more) — and wherever there were beavers, there were intricate natural communities that depended on their activities. Then the European fur traders arrived.

In Once They Were Hats, Frances Backhouse examines humanity’s 15,000-year relationship with Castor canadensis, and the beaver’s even older relationship with North American landscapes and ecosystems. From the waterlogged environs of the Beaver Capital of Canada to the wilderness cabin that controversial conservationist Grey Owl shared with pet beavers; from a bustling workshop where craftsmen make beaver-felt cowboy hats using century-old tools to a tidal marsh where an almost-lost link between beavers and salmon was recently found, Backhouse goes on a journey of discovery to find out what happened after we nearly wiped this essential animal off the map, and how we can learn to live with beavers now that they’re returning.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ECW Press
• Release date: Oct 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781770907553

Frances Backhouse

Frances Backhouse studied biology in university and worked as a park naturalist and a biologist before becoming an environmental journalist and author. She is the award-winning author of Beavers: Radical Rodents and Ecosystem Engineers and Grizzly Bears: Guardians of the Wilderness in the Orca Wild series, as well as six books for adults, including Owls of North America. She lives in Victoria, British Columbia.

Reviews for Once They Were Hats

[jennybeast · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating history of the Beaver. No, I am not kidding, it's really quite interesting. if you don't have a high tolerance for the fur trade though, it may exceed your squeamishness factor -- not that it glorifies that trade by any means, but the author does really investigate as much as she can about it.

[daumari · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It was ok, but I can't quite put my finger on why I didn't really like it as much as other natural history books. Perhaps it was the first person perspective as the author learned more about beavers? Otherwise, a good overview of the relationship between beavers and people in a historical, fashionable, and ecological way, with a short sidestep into the paleontology of now extinct species.

[bucketofrhymes · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Thanks to ECW and the 49th Shelf for providing me with a free copy of Once They Were Hats.

Honestly, my knowledge of beavers was minimal before picking up this book, which is kind of a shameful thing to admit as a Canadian. I knew they built dams, I knew they were crucial to the fur trade, I knew (and kind of wish I didn't) about how they were used in perfume and flavouring. But that was it.

Once They Were Hats delves into the history of beavers -- and how intrinsically linked they are with the history of Canada. Filled to the brim with fascinating information about beavers and their ancestors, this book gave me a much bigger appreciation for this majestic creature.