And in it contentment and happiness find;
We do what we can for a friend or a neighbor,
And die, boys, in peace and good-will to mankind.
You know how we live, boys, and die in the West.
One other Oregon Trail song, which sounds more authentic, was given from memory by an aged Portland woman. Dr. W. Claude Adams of Portland, knowing of this search for early Oregon folk songs, took down its words as it was sung to him by his 83-year-old neighbor, Mrs. Margaret Elizabeth Irwin. She said it was one of those she heard her father sing on the way across the plains in 1864:
And fills my soul with woe,
But the fertile fields of Oregon
Encourages me to go.
Encourages me to go,
Encourages me to go,
But the fertile plains of Oregon
Encourages me to go
The Diary of E. W. Conyers, a pioneer of 1852, contains a reference to "the Platte River poet" and quotes one of his verses but does not say whether his rhymes were sung:
June 15—Tuesday (1852) . . . We arrived in view of the Courthouse Block and Chimney Rocks about noon today while crossing the ruins of the "ancient bluffs". We have a splendid view of those noted rocks from our camp tonight, which brings to memory some verses composed by "the Platte River poet", one verse of which runs thus:
