When I went of to Prospect.
[AIR—King of the Cannibal Islands]

I heard of gold at Sutter's Mill,
At Michigan Bluff and Iowa Hill,
But never thought it was rich until
I started off to prospect.
At Yankee Jim's I bought a purse.
Inquired for Iowa Hill, of course,
And traveled on, but what was worse,
Fetched up in Shirt-tail Cañon.

Chorus:
A sicker miner every way
Had not been seen for many a day;
The devil it always was to pay,
When I went off to prospect.

When I got there, the mining ground
Was staked and claimed for miles around,
And not a bed was to be found,
When I went off to prospect,
The town was crowded full of folks,
Which made me think 'twas not a hoax;
At my expense they cracked their jokes,
When I was nearly starving.

Chorus:
A sicker miner evry way
Had not been seen for many a day;
The devil it always was to pay
When I went off to prospect.

I left my jackass on the road,
Because he wouldn't carry the load;
I'd sooner pack a big horn toad,
Whcn I went off to prospect.
My fancy shirt, with collar so nice,
I found was covered with body-lice;
I used unguentum once or twice,
But could not kill the grey-backs

Chorus:
A sicker miner every way
Had not been seen for many a day;
The devil it always was to pay,
When I went off to prospect.

At Deadwood I got on a tight—
At Groundhog Glory I had a fight;
They drove me away from Hell's Delight,
When I off to prospect.
From Bogus-Thunder I ran away—
At Devil's Basin I wouldn't stay;
My lousy shirt crawled off one day,
Which left me nearly naked.

Chorus:
A sicker miner every way
Had not been seen for many a day;
The devil it always was to pay,
When I went off to prospect.

Now all I got for running about,
Was two black eyes, and bloody snout;
And that's the way it did turn out,
When I went off to prospect.
And now I'm loafing around dead broke,
My pistol and tools are all in soak,
And whisky bills at me they poke—
But I'll make it right in the morning.

Chorus:
A sicker miner every way
Had not been seen for many a day;
The devil it always was to pay,
When I went off to prospect.



Put's Original California Songster, pp. 46-47

Lyrics and tune in Dwyer & Lingenfelter, The Songs of the Gold Rush, pp. 71-72

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Yankee Jim's and Iowa Hill are less than ten miles from my home here in Colfax, California. They were once booming Gold Rush towns, and now there's almost nothing left of them. This week's Sacramento Bee says that Iowa Hill will finally get landline telephone service this year, so residents will no longer have to walk to "Telephone Hill" to get cell phone reception. An acquaintance of mine is the teacher at Iowa Hill's one-room schoolhouse. He drives from Colfax every day, along a treacherous road that crosses the American River Canyon.
Can't say I've ever been to Yankee Jim's. It's a dot on the map, and I've been past where it's supposed to be, but I'm not sure anything's there. I saw seven waterfalls along Yankee Jim's Road one spring day, as I drove from Colfax to the North Fork of the American River - and I saw a bobcat at the bridge. Never did find the town, though.
I've been on Shirt-tail Canyon Road in the same area - but I never did find that town, either. There's one mine still operating on that road.
Coloma, where gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill, is on the Middle Fork of the American River, a long drive from here - but not far as the crow flies.
-Joe Offer-

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Click here for photos of the American River Canyon.

Click to play (joeweb)

For music notes, see "Emigrant from Pike" —AC

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