In "Cape Breton Captain," Capt. David A. McLeod recalled these lyrics from the 1870s:

Oh Shanandoah, I love your daughter
Away you Rolling River
My bully boys, I lover her ever
Ah, ah, we are bound away
To cross the Wild Missouri.

The sails are set and the gale is howling
Away you Rolling River
The tack is down and the sheets aflowing.
Ah, ah, we are bound away
To cross the Wild Missouri.

Oh Shanandoah, be good to Alice
Away my [sic] Rolling River
Till the day I die I shall ne'er forget her.
Ah, ah, we are bound away
To cross the Wild Missouri.