Hoofs were heard along the Brazos, 

 Horns were tossing on the Pecos! 

 From the far-off Southern pastures, 

 From the waters of the Concho, 

 From the grassy realms of Texas, 

 Day by day in countless numbers 

 Pressed the cattle to the conquest. 

 Northward, Westward, ever Northward, 

 Toward the sunny plains of Kansas, 

 Toward the walls of Colorado. 



Night by night their bed-grounds found them 

 Nearer still and always nearer 

 To the nameless unknown perils 

 Of the Northland they had entered 

 On the trails that led not backward. 



Not the pangs of thirst nor hunger, 

 Not the Northern storm-clouds' warning, 

 Not the stampede in the darkness, 

 Not the seas of fire that threatened 

 On the wind-swept blazing prairies 

 Stayed them in their great migration 

 As they journeyed ever onward 

 Toward the sand hills of Nebraska, 

 Toward the Bad Lands of Dakota, 

 Northward, Westward, ever Northward. 



And the Chinook came to cheer them. 

 Higher still and ever higher 

 Newer pastures bloomed and beckoned. 

 Where the Yellowstone was flowing, 

 Where the wide Missouri wandered, 

 Where Montana's peaks were gleaming, 

 Where the Big Horn dreamed of battle, 

 Where Wyoming's highest ranges 

 Led up "to the lofty passes, 

 To the parting of the waters, 

 Came the cow-men and their cattle, 

 Came the bronco and the buster, 

 Came the camp-fire and the cabin, 

 Came the round-up and the branding. 



Where the silent snowy summits 

 Guard the Colorado's sources, 

 Where the darkly-frowning forests 

 Hide the Rio Grande's fountains, 

 Lo, the west wind came a-sighing, 



