FOLK COLLECTION 11: The Skaggs Foundation Cowboy Poetry Collection
| Date of Items: | 1890-present | Register Prepared by: | Randy Williams and Susan Gross, April 2004 |
| Register Updated by: | Randy Williams, 23 December 2009 |
| Excel database transfered to MYSQL and uploaded (replacing PHP data): | Colin Jackson, Fall 2010 |
| MYSQL database updated: | Randy Williams, January 2012 |
| Linear Feet: | 20 |
Historical Note & Provenance
Folk Coll 11 is Utah State University's cowboy poetry collection. The collection, originally created by a generation donation by the L. J. and Mary Skaggs Foundation, includes books gathered during a fieldwork project in the early 1980s to document cowboy poetry in the U.S. west (see Folk Coll 11f). From this important fieldwork project came the impetus for the first Cowboy Poetry Gathering held in January 1985 in Elko, Nevada. Since that time, each January, the Fife Folklore Archives staff take the collection and Access database (that details each book, poem, author, first line and key words), to the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering for offsite use. Through University purchases and generation donations from poets and collectors, this collection continues to grow.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of 20 linear feet of books on cowboy poetry, including press and self published works. The collection can be accessed through USU Libraries online catalog.
As well, poem titles and keywords found in each book in the collection are included in the database below. To use, type in the search term. Tip: Try and use an uncommon
word from the poem to ensure less "hits." For instance, if you enter "boots" you will get many hits; but if you enter "bones" you will most liley get fewer "hits" or poems and find the item you seek faster.
To return to the search page, click "home" at the bottom of the page.
Search:
Poetry table.
First Previous Next Last| ID | Book Title | Composer | Index | Pages | Author | Poem Title | First Lines | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24054 | Between The Fences | FC 11 D-25 | 115 | Danny W. Dutton | Dignity | I guess I'm a kind of monarch Lord over all that I survey Splendid atop a dashing steed With a royal order to purvey | ||
| 24055 | Between The Fences | FC 11 D-25 | 116 | Danny W. Dutton | Native Tongue | Sunset brought unburdened peace and the ranch took heed and the dust began to settle while I put out the horses' feed | ||
| 24056 | Between The Fences | FC 11 D-25 | 120 | Danny W. Dutton | Porchstep At Sunrise | I have breathed so cool the morning air And a silent moment pondered there Wispy water and frozen dew Crispy branches the cold wind blows through | ||
| 24057 | Between The Fences | FC 11 D-25 | 121 | Danny W. Dutton | Equi-Dawn | Out there On the rolling plains I saw them on a mesa They were playing | ||
| 24058 | Between The Fences | FC 11 D-25 | 125 | Danny W. Dutton | Bonita | We cursed the drought and thirst Dust had blown and mesquite pods burst Persevering desert brown and summer death we persevered the worst | ||
| 24059 | Between The Fences | FC 11 D-25 | 127 | Danny W. Dutton | Whirlwind | Yellow pine, oak, and hickory reach for the sky, limbs outstretched and intertwined. Creating an image of a crowd of people whose elbows are tangled in a panic. | ||
| 24060 | Between The Fences | FC 11 D-25 | 132 | Danny W. Dutton | Cold Front | The ghastly hue The winter blue From the north the wind that frets Its presence known | ||
| 24061 | Between The Fences | FC 11 D-25 | 133 | Danny W. Dutton | Cathedrals In The Sky | Show me the Plains in all their awesome glory where the horizon meets the sky, where the meeting is almost imperceptible | ||
| 24062 | Between The Fences | FC 11 D-25 | 135 | Danny W. Dutton | The Dean Ranch Raid | Off the South Plains of Texas there is a place along and below the Caprock called Indian Canyon. | ||
| 24063 | Cowboy Poetry | FC 11 D-26 | 3 | Gale Drewry | I Love Montana | Here's to Montana the state that I love With the wide open spaes and the stars up above | ||
| 24064 | Cowboy Poetry | FC 11 D-26 | 4 | Gale Drewry | A Montanan's Prayer | Montana's my home land. May God keep it free. For its' sons and it's daughters, That are yet to be. | ||
| 24065 | Cowboy Poetry | FC 11 D-26 | 5 | Gale Drewry | The Jack Rabbit Hunt | My Dad he came to Montana In nineteen hundred thirteen With a covered wagon driving cattle behind Yes my Daddy was a cowboy back then | ||
| 24066 | Cowboy Poetry | FC 11 D-26 | 7 | Gale Drewry | Ginger Was Her Name | I love my old mustangs, yes I love them all. But there's one I'm remembering from along time ago. She'd lift her head up and she'd snicker to me. Just an old mustang - Ginger was her name. | ||
| 24067 | Cowboy Poetry | FC 11 D-26 | 8 | Gale Drewry | The Shack Out Back | Here I sit in the little shack out back The one where I got pinched by that crack Where the snow drifted in from a hole in the back | ||
| 24068 | Cowboy Poetry | FC 11 D-26 | 9 | Gale Drewry | Great Grandson of Strawberry Roan | I lived right next door to the old 44 Back years ago when I was a kid I had a great grandson of the Strawberry Roan As a lot of the neighbors can atone | ||
| 24069 | Cowboy Poetry | FC 11 D-26 | 10 | Gale Drewry | Montana Meadowlark | A big gray bird with a big yellow breast A big black V neck tie there on his chest At singing his song he is the best Says its springtime out here in the Midwest | ||
| 24070 | Cowboy Poetry | FC 11 D-26 | 11 | Gale Drewry | Run Buffalo Run | Hooves like lighting flash in the sun Run buffalo run, run buffalo run Take your life with arrows and the knife Run buffalo run, run buffalo run | ||
| 24071 | Cowboy Poetry | FC 11 D-26 | 12 | Gale Drewry | Old Babes Runaway | A long time ago when I was just a kid We drove a horse and cart to school like most kids did But this day would be different riding in that old cart A passing gas truck gave old Babe a sudden start | ||
| 24072 | Cowboy Poetry | FC 11 D-26 | 13 | Gale Drewry | In The Beginning | In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth He made the mountains, water, trees and the grass He did it in six days and a fine job He done But on the seventh He sat down to enjoy His bright sun | ||
| 24073 | Cowboy Poetry | FC 11 D-26 | 14 | Gale Drewry | An Old Dying Breed | I'm the last don't you see of an old dying breed. A cowboy that nobody needs; the wild horse he goes, But nobody knows what it does to a cowboy when they're gone. | ||
| 24074 | Cowboy Poetry | FC 11 D-26 | 15 | Gale Drewry | Riding the Bronco | I'm neigh 60 years old so I've been told At riding those bronco's I'm still really bold You see to get better when you're getting old Cause I've got a blue roan that hasn't been rolled | ||
| 24075 | Cowboy Poetry | FC 11 D-26 | 16 | Gale Drewry | What About the Free | As I went out a riding one day Along my favorite ridge I saw the big white horse Coming on the run | ||
| 24076 | Cowboy Poetry | FC 11 D-26 | 17 | Gale Drewry | Old Bossy's Direct Hit | Here's to that old milk cow Who gives milk so they say But mine never did I had to take it away | ||
| 24077 | Cowboy Poetry | FC 11 D-26 | 18 | Gale Drewry | A Cowboy's Dream | One more time I'd like to relive Chasing wild horses out over that ridge Swap old tales of the times that we had It wasn't always easy and sometimes was sad | ||
| 24078 | Cowboy Poetry | FC 11 D-26 | 19 | Gale Drewry | Big White Horse | Jesus is coming to get us on a big white horse I know For if it were not the truth He would have told me so. I'm going to help Him roundup His Christians and you know And take them up to Heaven on a big white horse I know |