Had I been born 100 years before I was, I would have been 17 years old in 1870. During that era thousands of longhorns were being driven from Texas to the railheads in Kansas by drovers around the age of 15 to 20 years of age. There is not a doubt in my mind that I would have been one of those drovers had I been there. I have often wondered what went through those young men's minds along the trail.
Three Hundred Miles To Go
Three hundred miles behind us
'Bout the same still lay ahead
Trail boss says in three more days
We'll reach the "Mighty Red"
He says the Red's a bad one
When it's deep and on the rise
A dozen boys all prayin'
We'll just make it through alive
If the river smiles upon us
And we dodge it's deathly lair
Will we make it through the "Nations"
With our lives and with our hair
The ghostly sounds of evening
In a land that's wild and mean
Are sounds that make your blood run cold
To a boy of seventeen
It makes you long for mornin' light
And though you're not alone
Your mind will take you back again
To fond memories of home
The trail boss is a mean ole' cuss
It seems he's always mad
But he's the closest thing we've got
To bein' like a dad
Ole' "Cookie" told us straight and true
Without no reason and no rhyme
Do what the "Old Man" tells you
Do it each and every time
He's made it six and sixty years
By bein' no man's fool
The lessons he can teach you
Won't be taught in grammar school
So study hard your lessons
Make note the dangers that you've seen
With God's grace and that old man
Chances are you'll make eighteen
The herd is restin' easy now
That's sure a welcome sight
They ran for four and half a mile
In the lightnin' storm last night
The canyon helped us turn 'em
The lightnin' helped us see
The canyon walls were sharp and steep
We saved 'em all but three
A dozen boys rode out last night
We rode just like the wind
Young Billy turned the leading steers
All the boys but him rode in
We found him there next mornin'
Near the rim he'd made his stance
Two thousand hooves, a thousand horns
Billy never had a chance
His grave's a simple mound of stones
A marker near it stands
It reads: This boy of seventeen
Would have been a right fine man
The "Old Man" quoted scripture
From the Bible that he knew
Said "his momma's gonna miss him
I know these MEN will miss him too
Then he told us, "daylights burnin'
Best get these beefsteaks to the rail
Saddle up your ponies, boys
Throw the herd out on the trail"© 2003, Jay Snider
These words may not be reprinted or reposted without the author's written permission.