He told of the two Joe McFraus, the one whose name was Pete, And how he labored for his board to get enough to eat. And also of the Terrible Swede who gloried in a brawl, One day he fought the riot squad and licked them one and all. But master of the mighty men he loved to tell the best, The tales of old Paul Bunyan and how he built the West. He told of how he built the Sound, and how once on a spree He dug the Strait of Bering to drain the Arctic Sea. And how he split the old Cascades, and, by the way, said he, "That reminds me of this very lake and how it came to be." And so he smoked of my cigars and sampled my home brew, And told the tale about the lake and swore that it was true. He said it was the very time when Bunyan pulled in two The Cascade Mountains and thus let the Columbia River through; He said the Blue Ox braced his feet and came within a dime Of pulling California loose from its sunny clime. And he swore 'twas true as gospel, that day the "Native Son" Had first come down from out the trees to see what could be done. Well, Bunyan listened to their wail, and checked his ox of blue, Then staking down the southern end had pulled the range in two. Then when he finished up his job he just pulled up the stake, And water ran into the hole and there was Crater Lake. Now you can take this tale or not, he swore that it was true, And I don't think he'd lie to me while drinking my home brew. THE DEATH OF THE BLUE OX This story, better than any other I know, shows the characteristic weaknesses of the lumber industry. This is a tale of the West land, the fartherest end of the earth; A tale of the great Northwest land where every man proves his worth. Cascade was king of the mountains, Puget was lord of the sea; Though Paul Bunyan took their orders, mightiest of all was he. He dug the Sound for old Puget, he built the Peaks for Cascade, Like the last great dream of a Painter, the Olympic Mountains he made. But he was gyped by St. Helens on plans for a mountain mold, So he pastured his ox and traveled to the north in search of gold. He stopped at the mighty Yukon, it looked like a likely stream; He never looked to his tailings, he was only after the cream. But his plans were too ambitious and they'll tell you to this day Of how Bunyan panned the Yukon but couldn't make it pay. But about that time came rumors which he soon found were true, How two friends took a contract and could not put it through. It seemed that Joe McFrau and his friend, The Terrible Swede, Had started to earn a grub stake on which they stood in need. They started to level the Prairies, but their knowledge was not an iota, So soon the two were stranded in the Bad Lands of Dakota. They wrote to old Paul Bunyan and asked if he would bring His old Blue Ox and help them finish the job in the spring.