Lyr Req: the mercury was twenty-four below

Subject: Lyr Req: the mercury was twenty-four below
From: GUEST,Newfiegirl
Date: 26 May 07 - 07:41 PM

Can anybody help me with the Two missing verses in this song
Thanks.

                TWENTY FOUR BELOW

An old Nebraska Pioneer lay dying on the plate Platte.
There was lack of women's nursing but he did not care for that
A cowboy knelt beside him in the north winds icy breath
And he whispered words of comfort as he slowly froze to death.

I have lived here thirty years or more, the man went on to say
But I never saw such weather, like the weather is today
I've been caught out in blizzards I should think a score or more
I always got home safely I never froze before.

Tell my wife if you can find her for she left some years ago
She can have the valley section and the bloody stock there on
She's welcome to the homestead just this side a broken bow
You can tell her that the mercury was twenty-four below.

The old man stopped speaking , sure he breathed once or twice
His breath was gone forever, he lay still upon the ice
The poleman rose up slowly, and the north wind ceased to blow
The weather man reported it was twenty- four below.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the mercury was twenty-four below
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 May 07 - 10:08 PM

Hmmm. Sounds like it's derived from Bingen on the Rhine. Haven't found 24 below, though...

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the mercury was twenty-four below
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 29 May 07 - 11:00 PM

I'd bet that first line should be "An old Nebraska pioneer lay dying on the Platte."

The Platte is the major river that runs through Nebraska.

Also, Broken Bow (verse 3 line 3) is a town in Nebraska.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the mercury was twenty-four below
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 May 07 - 12:09 AM

On the Platte??? Darn, why didn't I think of that? It sure makes a lot more sense, Jim - and it rhymes better wiht "that."
-Joe Offer-