Another version to contribute:



from Folk Songs of Central West Virginia, Vol. 5
by Michael E “Jim” Bush


Logging on Bear Fork

At the turn of the century, the Bear Fork county in Calhoun County was covered with virgin forest of white oak and poplar. Cutting and hauling these huge trees brought a short-lived economic boom to the area. This song, reportedly made in the lumber camp, captures the feeling of the period.

from Noah Cottrill, Sand Ridge, Calhoun Co., May, 1977

In eighteen hundred and forty five,
I thought myself lucky
To find myself alive.
I harnessed up my team;
I bid the girls adieu;
I went to skidding logs
As I used for to do.

The whiskey being plentiful;
The julep being free,
As fast as one glass emptied,
Another’d fill for me.
I hadn’t rolled but one log
Instead of hauling four
Until I got so drunk
I couldn’t haul no more.

I took my saddle on my back;
I started for the barn.
I started for the barn
Not meaning any harm.
I saddled up old Bill;
I rode away so still
I hardly drew a sober breath
’Til I arrived at Flynter’s Hill.

There I met an acquaintance;¹
His name I dare not tell.
He told me that in that place of heck
There was going to be some hell.
Not being hard persuaded,
We quickly did agree.
I agreed to meet him
When the banjo ought to be.

Jon Cottrill being willing
And his a being strong
He played the rounds in old Bear Fork
For full four hours long
The morning stars was rising
Said, “Boys, we’ve danced enough.”
It took them a full half hour
Making collections up.

The path must have been willing
For we wouldn’t have knowed the way.
I pulled old Bill into the barn
About the break of day.
We slept in every corner
Where e’er we saw a light²
Till the old gray logs was covered
With the dew of the night.

Come all you gallant people
That tattle tales around,
Don’t tell no tales on me and Miss Heckert
For we’re bad enough without.

_____
^1. Mr Cottrill actually sang “There I met a quaint.”
^2. The word “light” is used here to mean “resting place.” This usage is fairly common in the area, as in “Light down and set a spell.”