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
Spur Tracks and Hoofprints
FC 11 K-29
E.J. Kirchoff
horse stories
Poems of the Old West: A Rocky Mountain Anthology
Levette J. Davidson
FC 11 D-02
217
Arthur W. Monroe
The Forest Fire
Rolling clouds of greasy smoke.
flames, destruction, fear
Along Old Trails: Poems of New Mexico and Arizona
FC 11 S-06
80
William Haskell Simpson
Remembered Faces
Those left behind
Will Rogers: The Man and His Humor
Wendell Mathews
FOLK COLL 11 M-77
will rogers, autobiography, humor, poetry, impact
Poems from the Alamo Saloon
FOLK COLL 11 L-45
132
Paul Thomas Lillard
Moses
Now Moses was a great man. No one doubts it, no one can. He led his people who wished to be free out of Egypt and tyranny.
israel, prophet, moses
Rimrock and Juniper
FC 11 K-31
54
E.J. Kirchoff
Country Boy at Heart
We're loafin' 'round the fire. Work all finished for the day. And smokin' that last cigarette before we hit the hay. Old Smokey Jones said, "Bill's forever tellin'of some tale. But stickin' to the truth, at times, Old Bill's been known to fail.
Riders of the Stars
FC 11 K-05
34
Henry Herbert Knibbs
The Outcast
With thrill of birds adown the dawn there came.
wolf, dog, fear, outcast, friend, hunger, lonely
Cow Country Ballads
FC 11 J-01
49
Laurance Lincoln Jameson
Just Tom's Way
Listen, friends, while a story I tell.
bronc buster, bronco, wolf, pelt, wildlife, trappers, Tom Darnell
Songs of the Saddlemen
FC 11 B-06
15
S. Omar Barker
Jack Potter's Courtin'
Now young Jack Potter was a man who knowed the ways of steers.
courting, cows, 1884, Cordie Eddy, love, romance, sweetheart, female, gal, girl, proposal, pop the question, horse, kiss, courtship
Tracks in the sand: original cowboy poetry
FC 11 W-36
5
Perry L. Williams
Texas Red
Texas Red, he's quite a rooster who lives down at the barn.
American Cowboy Songs
Robbins Music Corporation
FC 11 A-02
4
When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain
When the moon comes over the mountain ev'ry beam brings a dream dear of you.
dream, alone, day is gray
Gary McMahan in Poetry & Song
Gary McMahan
FOLK COLL 11 M-70
58
Gary McMahan
The Blizzard
Four Montana hands, different every man, saddled up one cracklin' fall mornin'. Lucky trusted fate, and me, I plays her straight.
blizzard, cattle, endurance
Western Poems
FC 11 R-23
1
Scott Redington
An Ancient Arapaho Invocation
Oh, My Father, Holy Spirit,
Rhymes of the Ranges: A New Collection of the Poems of Bruce Kiskaddon
Hal Cannon
FC 11 K-12
49
Bruce Kiskaddon
Flankin'
There is work where a feller can do things by halves, But there's nothin' like that when you start flankin calves.
Rhymes Along the Way
FC 11 L-39
16
Robert L. Laumeyer
Poet's "Advice"
Know you're human, thus subject to error. Be humble enough that to "self" you are fair.
Original Cowboy Poetry
FC 11 S-25
29
Colen H. Sweeten Jr.
Cowboy Rhyme
Everyone had a nickname,
Singing Cowboy: A Book of Western Songs
Margaret Larkin
FC 11 L-03
5
The Chisholm Trail (second version)
Oh, come along boys, and listen to my tale, I'll tell you of my troubles on the old Chisholm trail.
Reflections of the West: Cowboy painters and poets
C.J. Hadley
FC 11 H-59
116
Ruth Whitman
September 7, 1846
Across the white plain of salt I see an army of wagons teams dogs children passing near the horizon and
company, woman, skirt, traveling
What I Learned On the Way to Life: Insights and Concepts learned along the way..
FC 11 J-15
51
Hans "Jake" Jeppson
My Friend
Amid the fields she walks, love is her remnant.
Poetry of Skinny Rowland, Complete Works to 1993
Skinny Rowland
FOLK COLL 11 R-49
35
Skinny Rowland
The Ideal Woman
Now I had always lived alone, it was a drab and lonely life, so I set out awhile back, to find myself a wife.
chores, attributes, appearances
Rhymes of the Ranges
FC 11 K-04
126
Bruce Kiskaddon
That Little Blue Roan
Most all of you boys have rode hosses like that.
Cowboy Poetry Cookbook: Menus and Verse for Western Celebrations
Cyd McMullen and Anne Wallace McMullen
FC 11 M-39
25
Badger Clark
The Bunkhouse Orchestra
Wrangle up your mouth-harps, drag your banjo out, Tune your old guitarra till she twangs right stout
Stretch Marks
FC 11 G-34
74
Peggy Godfrey
March 19, 2003
On the eve of war welcome snow rearranges itself in the winds drifts here, bare ground there
Breezy Western Verse
FC 11 A-11
27
James Barton Adams
Ol' Bill Spratt's Prayer
When I was jus' a little tad.
worshippers, power, preacher, spiritual, stormy
Trail Dust of a Maverick
FC 11 B-15
62
E.A. Brininstool
The Braggart
I've fit the Injuns often, pard.
motion pictures, actor, Hollywood cowboy