FOLK COLLECTION 11: The Skaggs Foundation Cowboy Poetry Collection
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.
Book Title
Composer
Call #
Pages
Author
Poem Title
First Lines
Keywords
Cowboy Poetry: Classic Rhymes by S. Omar Barker (1894-1985)
Jodie and Bob Phillips
FC 11 B-44
16
S. Omar Barker
The Tie-Fast Man
This is the way of the tie-fast men, Where the unpenned cattle graze.
Saddle For A Throne
FC 11 O-13
287
Will Ogilvie
A Wind From The West
The wind that fires the blood came leaping in from Westward, over stone and stake and stud, with the roar of reeling dust-wrack
incense, trains, honours, sea, kiss
Corral Dust
FC 11 K-33
19
E.J. Kirchoff
Too Many Mistakes
Old Smokey Jones said, "Bill and me, Now this was years ago, Decided that we'd had enough Of buckin' winter snow, A-playin' nursemaid to a bunch Of cows on winter range.
Corral Dust
FC 11 F-05
18
Bob Fletcher
That Little Baldy Hoss
You see that little Baldy hoss.
cayuse, horse, cow pony, devotion
Ranch Reveries
FC 11 H-21
28
Oscar Herem
Merry Christmas, Kelly
It's not the thot of Christmas or decorations bright.
commercialization, holiday, nurse, faith, Christianity, blessings
Outdoors, Faith, Fun and Other Poems
FC 11 B-02
11
Elliott S. Barker
Time to Shut Up
They done stole my horse; So I don't need hay; I ain't got no eggs; 'Cause my hens won't lay.
farm, domestic animals, humor
The Prairie Schooner and Other Poems
FC 11 D-01
34
Edward Everett Dale
Labor
Ain't ye ever busted middles.
cursing, thrashing, mishaps, thankful
Where Old Trails Meet the New on Oregon High Desert
Ramona Turmon and Lona Tankersley Burkhart
FC 11 T-12
55
Lona Tankersley Burkhart
A Christmas Prayer from the Mountain Country
Dear God, Who made these mountains,
Sawdust & Shavin's
FC 11 S-11
10
Shep Smith
True Blue
Coconuts seem to grow the best,
Cowboy Poetry: A Gathering
Hal Cannon
FC 11 C-14
123
Ross Knox
The Dying Times
Any man makin' a living by punchin' cows.
Custer and Other Poems
FC 11 W-02
94
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Custer
All valor died not on the plains of Troy.
The Caney Creek Collection
FC 11 C-32
33
Frank Carpenter
New Hats
Three refined suburban gentlemen.
store, hats, gathering, cowboys, convention, identities, secret
Signature of the Sun: Southwest Verse, 1900-1950
Mabel Major and T.M. Pearce
FC 11 M-02
50
Lilith Lorraine
Southwest
I could sing the lay of the broad paved way.
Song of the Cowboys
N. Howard Thorp
FC 11 T-11
77
author unknown
Hell in Texas
The Devil we're told in hell was chained,
A Mano
FC 11 P-33
27
Vince Pedroia
Black Magic
I sell life insurance to cowboy sdon't do well but I keep tryin'
Cowboy Lyrics
FC 11 C-03
21
Robert V. Carr
Waterloo of Poker Bills
Oh, he hailed from the Hills, Black Hills, Black Hills.
Black Hills, poker, Poker Bills
Cowboy Poetry: Classic Rhymes by S. Omar Barker (1894-1985)
Jodie and Bob Phillips
FC 11 B-44
104
S. Omar Barker
Ranch House Night
An ol' cow balin' down the draw, A windmill's lonesome whirr.
More Muddled Meanderings in an Outhouse
FC 11 R-13
4
Bob Ross
The Thrifty Swede
Two rough and ready cowboys
Diary of My Heart
FC 11 S-23
26
Edwin Lee Sankey
A Tale of the Dinosaurs
Way back when - the world was young,
Horseback in the Hills: A Collection of Cowboy Poetry & Photography
FC 11 P-22
48
Roy Pace
To Each His Own
One of the nice things about living in the good ol' U.S.A.
Poems of American Cowboys & Nature
FC 11 C-04
44
Bob A. Carson
Careful and Kind
Oh speedy time's advancing wing.
Bygone Days of the Old West
FC 11 L-01
102
Fred Lambert
Echoes from Yokel Row
We were speaking of the cattle markets; At the Cross-Bar Lazy-B.
Blood Writing
Sean Sexton
FOLK COLL 11 S-75
98
Sean Sexton
To the Organ
To speak this thing, begin with the fundament:
organ, song, orchestra
Sittin' and A-Grinnin': A Collection of Works
Layle Bagley & Linda Merrill
FC 11 B-11
157
Cecil Jensen
Winter Supplies
This story is about a friend of mine named Bill Woodard who lived above Jackson, Wyoming.
Bygone Days of the Old West
FC 11 L-01
138
Fred Lambert
The Rattlesnake
I live my life in the desert; I bask in the morning sun.