Echoes From the Frontier Verses

THE LOST VALLEY . . . . . . . . . . 3O . . . . . . . . . . . . . JIM BLAIR 32 THE A K A B N Y DARKA . . . . . . . . 36 A NORTHERN C OLLOQUY . . . . . . . . 37 THE W HITE STLENCE . . . 39 THE Lsr HUNT OF THE OLD PARTNERS . . 41 THE D EMAND O F THE NORTHERNW HITE AND . 46 viii CONTENTS AN OLD PIONEER . . . . . . . . . . P A 4 G 8 E To MY OLD TKAIL H ORSE . . . . . . . 5 1 A SOFTER P LACE . . . . . . . . . . 54 THE CALIFORN H IA IL LS . . . . . . . . 56 . . . . . . . . . . . INC NPATIBILITY 58 DOWN BY THE OLD SPRING . . . . . . . 5 9 ILLUSTRATIONS The Town of Old Valdez . . . . . FronLi icce TO FACE PAGE Prospectors Cabin, Knight Island, Alaska . . 8 The Alaskan Bydarka . . . . . . , a . 36 United States hlaiI Station . . . . . a . 52 ECHOES FROM THE FRONTIER AN ALASKA RIVER THERE w , he re the mountain fangs snarl at the blood-red moon Whcrc precipice ocrhangs, to echo floods of June You roar and par. Through canyons dark and deep you plunge with maddcncd pranks To vales that rest asleep, where spruce-trccs linc your banks You swirl and curl. Ringing there your murmur - a chant to red mens tread Singing songs of Summer, to living, of the dead You moan and groan. Calling, you wind your ways, towards the Northern sea Falling, through Summer days, with laughter that is frce Then sigh and cry. Weep - where glaciers grumble, neath sundogs bitter glare Swecp, and madIy tumble, by mountains bleak and bare And chime in rhyme. Oh, leave the land of gold, and seek the dark bluc sea Go to your home of oId - back to eternity - Gods will fullfill think that I saw thc largest bear beneath the sun As did Joe Bell but hc l1 not tell how he and I made that bear run. I said to Bell, I want to yell to you to cock and shoot your gun If he S coming, I am running and t was but said when all was done. As that bear fell, he let a y d , and Lord of bears how I did scoot How we did run Joe cocked his gun, and I yelled, Joe, you d better shoot , Joc shot oncc more, it made him roar, and then we split the wind in two, A stream I felt up to my belt, but then I bravely waded thru. Joc had a gun and 1 had none, and on the bear came with a rush. Whilc Joe was mute, I thot I d root, as we ran thru the alder brush So when Joe fell, and threw a shell, 1 yelled again, For Gods sake, shoot And shoot he did, and then we slid, but bet your life that bear was cute. WC thot at least we d shake the bcast by dodg ing him, but not a shake. I do declare that bear was therc, at every turn that we would take. WC were out-timed whcn trecs -c climbcd - and Joe hc stoppcd upon a limb No limb had mine, but up I d climb, altho t was smooth and slick and slim. I d climb and climb, then for a time 1 d rest - but thcn T d slidc right down Towards that bear I knew was thcrc, waitin for me to hit the ground...