Teanaway Valley
An old Point Man phoned, “Do ya think you can do it?.
Driving doggies and cows from the flanks of Mt. Stewart?"
Fattened on grass for a year they had stayed.
“Move a river of horns down to Yakima Quay?”
I ride for the brand, (vaqueros are soldiers!).
“Startin’ when?” I asked while I slurped on my Folger's.
“End of the week. We'll see you at camp?
Teanaway Forks, above 44 Ranch.”
I readied my tack, my bedroll and saddle
And a pony picked out I could trust in the battle.
She knew what she faced, the dust and the sun
And those ill-mannered beef just ready to run.
Drove my Gimmy and trailer up Gunny Sack Hill
And a left at Cle Elum , 'long the river until
I got into Roslyn , saw its graveyard beyond,
Unhitched and I gathered my thoughts in the dawn.
Ya’see, the #4 Mine blew out in ‘09
And, all dated the same, ten graves lay in line.
Each man skipped the Army to work underground
Found eternal peace and never were found.
Twenty got out, when the fan house she blew
From an explosion of black damp allowed to accrue.
Ten lives disappeared in the dust and the fumes
And in the dark they were buried like in Brigadoon.
“No danger” said the ranger. We'd checked in at his shack,
So we followed the creek called the Salmon LaSac.
Then switched-back a wall up the Cascadian face,
Rose to the ridgetop, then quickened our pace .
Across scree covered side slopes the moon to our back
Now east of the mountains, snow on our track.
But morning revealed in its dim welcome glow.
The Teanaway River, amid knotwood and oaks.
We pulled up in tandem and took in the site,
A satisfied nicker, a break from the night.
While memories returned to the beauty once seen,
The Teanaway Valley in autumn, a dream.
In the high mountain cirque it’s born from the snow
Feeding bunchgrass and clover in the meadows below
Thru sunshine and shadow, it wanders along
and chatters and riffles on its course like a song.
It’s a song for the larks, for the heavenly choirs,
It’s sings for the homesteads and cattle and miners,
That tune brings a blessing from my ears to my soul.
A song from a valley that’s never been spoiled.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teanaway_River
Dedicated to the memory of Marty Robbins
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