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
Bell Ranch Glimpses
FC 11 E-01
111
Martha Downer Ellis
Gryphaea, the Devil's Toe Nail
How fleetingly we live on this land.
past, history, records, fossil, shell, time, ancient history
Shrewd Angles & Other Undertones
FC 11 D-16
35
John C. Dofflemyer
For Paul
I had thought by fifty, by God, that life would slow, level out below the Great Divide in meadows waiting.
Cowboy Poetry: The Campfire Ain't Quite Out
Kent Stockton
FC 11 S-59
27
Kent Stockton
A Country Boy's Trip to Yellowstone
Brief essay about Mike Miller, inverate horse packer.
Arizona Herstory: Tales from Her Storied Past
FC 11 J-13
62
Dee Strickland Johnson
What Goes Around
I've heard life's a circle and what a man sows, surely, that shall he also reap.
Atkins, Pridham, guardian, George Warren, Indian, Apaches, Fort Bowie, Iron Spring, Jack Dunn, Mule Mountains, Rucker, Byrne, silver, claims, prospecting, army, drunk
Ropin', Ridin' and Ranchin'
FC 11 F-22
12
Dennis Flake
A Little Rodeo and a Big Bull
Forrest was just a little boy, But his feet reached to the ground. He had some good ideas And to me they sounded sound.
Ballads of the Poison Oak
FC 11 K-18
43
Jack Killam
The Riding Girl from Powder River
I'm the Riding Girl from Powder River!
Rhymes of Today and Yesterday!
FC 11 G-17
15
June Brander Gilman
Believe It or Not
One year ago when it was twenty below.
Croutons on a Cow Pie
FOLK COLL 11 B-77
15
Baxter Black
Karl's First Sale
Anybody that has ever put on their own livestock sale knows Murphy's Law. Lew and Benny hired on to help Karl make his first purebred offering a success. Karl (that's Karl with a K) was a good cowman who did things the old way. Hard work was all he knew. Lew claimed he was the toughest man he ever met. He was oblivious to pain. He was that rare combination of brute strength and awkwardness. He didn't understand the fine points of creative finaning or investor counseling. His neighbors even suggested that Karl was a little stupid. They were still sayin' it after their banks had foreclosed and they were doin' day work for Karl!
cattle, sale, livestock, chaos
Corral Dust
FC 11 F-05
65
Bob Fletcher
Stranger, Times Ain't Like They Used To Be
My spurs are getting rusty.
change, aging, hoe, plow, range, progress, automobile, farmer, fences
Cowboy Meditations
FC 11 L-02
48
Wade Lane
Closin' Time
Shadows o' the night creep softly into the western sky.
Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas
Jim Hoy
FOLK COLL 11 H-62
10
Phyllis Macy-Mills
At the Foot of Lookout Mountain
At the foot of Lookout Mountain Where the Caney River flows
kansas, scenery, nature
Songs of the American West
Richard E. Lingenfelter, Richard A. Dwyer and David Cohen
FC 11 L-10
148
Charles E. Winter
The Broken-Hearted Leaser
In a rusty, worn out cabin sat a broken-hearted leaser.
ore, poverty, gold, 'California Socks', silver
Poetic Works of Henry Lawson
David McKee Wright
FC 11 L-24
65
Henry Lawson
Black Bonnet
A day of seeming innocence.
The Pony Express: An Epic of the Old West
FC 11 M-22
51
Charles Rendell Mabey
Tung-a-Shump
Tung-a-Shump has marshaled two score braves from all the Gosh-Ute tribe
Goshute, Native Americans, Indians
West River Waltz: Western Poetry
FC 11 G-31
13
D. W. Groethe
Weekend Jackpot Ropin'
The say the Bible has a verse for any offering.
Ranch Verses
FC 11 C-09
69
William Lawrence Chittenden
A San Antonio Memory
In old San Antonio city.
Senorita, Gulf of Mexico, hacienda, Eden, memories, song, sadness, loss
The Ranch: Poems of the West
FC 11 L-09
54
Elliott C. Lincoln
Chuck Baker
It ain't what some folks call a treat.
sing, steers, mournful, happy
In Camp And Trench: Songs of the Fighting Forces
FC 11 B-55
59
Berton Braley
The Doughboy
He kicks about his sergeant And kicks about his chow,
Wind Songs
FC 11 R-43
48
Norman Edward Rourke
The Old Black Man
The old black man had cotton hair, His face wore lines of years, A shuffling walk with eyes cast down, He'd known since but a boy
Cowboy Poetry: Contemporary Verse
FC 11 M-43
31
Larry McWhorter
The Retirement of Ashtola
When a day's work is done in the limits of town
At the Church House
FC 11 J-22
8
Billy James
Day Stary, Night Star
While I was camping out one night, and looking up on high, I saw this star so powerful bright, just centered in the sky. It brought to mind a story that I heard when I was small.
A Cowboy's Forty Years of Gathering
FC 11 D-03
39
Chet Dawson
The Passin' of a Tenderfoot
There came a tenderfoot one time.
greenhorn, poker, gambling, ace, cheat, joke, tease, prank, trick, heart failure
Cowboy Poetry: Turning to Face the Wind
FC 11 M-50
194
Jane Ambrose Morton
Antelope Estates
Western Poems
Scott Redington
FC 11 R-23
15
J. Worthington Snodgrass, III
Timbuktu
We crossed the border
Riding the Range With Floyd
FC 11 O-09
57
Floyd Oyhus
The Politician
Now this politician was getting gray, But with most of the voters he sure had a way. He smooched all the ladies and hugged all the men, And kissed the baby's again and again.