The Pike County Miner

Oh! Once I was a 'right smart' lad,
When I lived out in Pike,
I'd a heap of good things, I never was sad
And I did whatever I'd like

Chorus:
But now I've nothing but rags to my back
And my boots scarce hide my toes
And my pants are patched with an old flour sack
To jive with the rest of my clothes

I thought when I first started from Pike
And drove an ox team o'er the plains
That when I got here I should make a big strike
And get some pay for my pains
But now

I landed at last in the mines, and I find
That money is hard to be made,
This sworking in water is not to my mind,
And I'm sick of the pick and the spade.
For now

I have drifted, I've washed, I've creviced and dug,
I've worked all the flesh to the bone
But never have had as much as a slug
That could be considered my own
And now

I am sick of the country, "I'm down at the heel"
I'm dirth, I'm ragged, I'm cold
Thought scarce one and twenty, I really do feel
As thought I was powerful old.
For here I've nothing

now I am resolved to labor and sweat
'Til something I make like a "strike,"
And jiust whenever a raise I may geret,
This "hombre" will "vamose" for Pike.

For there I'll have good clothes to my back,
And boots that will hide my toes,
And never a patch will I cut from a sack
For my pants of the rest of my clothes.

"Songs Of The Gold Rush"