A half-century of “war” broke out among local supporters of the dams and their foes: “The dam-builders were called the ‘beavers’; the dam destroyers were known as ‘muskrats.’ The muskrat and beaver war was carried on for years,” with skirmishes always breaking out over new attempts to dam the floods.
From the article:
Thank you for adding yet another source to Reading Mountain - I was reading this blog for an hour past finishing the linked article.