# History of Oregon Literature/Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28
Song Writers and Songs Since 1860
Why haven’t we had Oregon cowboy songs? Why can’t we point to a whole logging minstrelsy? Perhaps wheat lends itself to economics more than to music, but isn’t it to be expected that we would have ballads of the salmon fisherman, of the hop pickers, of the berry harvesters, and in varied celebrity of the Oregon apple? And why no sweet resonance to match the fragrance of the haystacks?
Pete French’s cowboys on the great P-Ranch in Harney County and the riders on all the far stretching ranges of Eastern Oregon sang plaintive melodies of other trails, of other herds and of lonely nights under other skies than their own. The logger has been sartorially original and has clothed himself in distinctive garments, but his songs, if he sang any, were not of his own making nor in expression of his own calling. Stewart H. Holbrook, a Portland writer who knows the big woods and those who work in them, confirms the lack of Oregon timber songs which a fairly diligent and resourceful search could not turn up in printed records.
When you come to think of it, Oregon’s main industries are of a curiously silent sort—the cattle ranges located amidst the austere soundlessness of the desert; the noise of the timberman's saw and ax unaccompanied by human voices, and meals dispatched ​quickly and with taciturnity in the mess house; the forest ranger blending with the stillness of his umbrageous trails; the salmon fishermen working in the meditative quiet of all fishing; the hush of autumn upon the apple.
With the exception of the poems of Ella Higginson, the lyrics of Oregon poets have not been extensively set to music. In the list given in this chapter will be recognized the names of several authors with reputations in Oregon literature, but the great bulk of Oregon songs have had their words written by those without a clear title otherwise to the name of poet. An examination of the list will show that this has not meant the substitution of genuine folk origins for professional versifying, but rather that the musicians have had a disposition to write their own lyrics, not always to the advantage of the literary aspects of the songs. The De Moss family, for instance, were inspiring in their pioneer musical citizenship, but the stanzas they themselves wrote do not incorporate sentiment or diction of significant quality or permanent appeal. In fact, the list taken as a whole does not speak too highly for the libretto part of Oregon songs.
The output has not been prolific—about 80 songs for 75 years. It probably does not represent fully the creative attitude that existed. No doubt, the difficulty and expense of securing publication has been a deterring factor. When the Society of Oregon Composers held a two-months contest for the Oregon State Song, there was a total of 212 entries. Also, many compositions by Oregonians have been left out of this bibliography, which gives only those with texts that deal in ​some way with Oregon and excludes all instrumental pieces. The most productive period in Oregon song writing was conspicuously the decade from 1910 to 1920. For some reason, during those ten years half of all the songs in the list were written and published.
As has already been observed, many of the things one would expect to be celebrated in Oregon song have been almost entirely overlooked. The favorite themes have been Oregon itself, roses, pioneers and special occasions.
The list, with some exceptions in the grouping of lyrics by the same author, is chronological, and has been separated into three 25-year periods—1860-1885, 1885-1910, 1910-1935.
Exact date not determined but probably in the 60's. The song tells about the disadvantages of Missouri, Kansas and North Dakota in two stanzas, each with the closing line "But Oregon suits me" and with the following chorus:
Published in the Oregon Historical Quarterly, June, 1908; also in Rhymes of Early Life in Oregon.
Composed to fill a lack in the collection of songs used by the Salem Grange Patrons of Husbandry. Published in Rhymes of Early Life in Oregon.
The first of these appeared in the New Northwest for September 8, 1871, Tune—"Ten Thousand Miles Away"; the second in the New Northwest for September 22, 1872, Tune—"Wait for the Turn of the Tide." Oregon is not mentioned by name in these songs but they are included to show that song writing was also one of the many gifts possessed by Mrs. Duniway. "The Song of the Ten-Cent Postage Stamp," probably not sung by anybody but her fictional characters, was given in Captain Gray's Company, 1859. Suffrage Hymn, by her in 1912, was set to music by Mrs. Alfred E. Clark and published in Portland by Sharp and Mack.
Samuel A. Clarke, the subject of an earlier chapter in this book, was the author of Sounds by the Western Sea. His verse is melodious and it is surprising that he did not write more song lyrics.
Charles H. Jones was for twenty-three years editor of The Oregon Teachers' Monthly. He was a native of the Waldo Hills in Marion County, where he was born in 1864.. He was graduated from the Monmouth Normal School in 1888, and taught at St. Helens, Eugene, McMinnville and Salem. He compiled The Western Songster in 1921, printed many songs in his magazine, and was popular as a leader of singing at the teachers' institutes.
The Oregon Sunday Journal for October 5, 1913, described the De Moss family as follows:
"Half a century ago, De Moss and his wife, both good musicians, crossed the plains from Missouri to Oregon to engage in Missionary work. They sung to and prayed for Indians on the upper Columbia River until they nearly starved. On account of Indian wars, missionary work became unprofitable. By this time and a little later five children were born. The mother and father sang, and the children took up singing as they learned to talk. Cowboys rode for miles to hear the De Moss children and their mother and father sing. They came at all seasons of the day and night, out in what is now Union County. The children were wakened from bed to sing just one song for some passing pioneer stockman or plainsman. Then it was song after song until the little ones were tired out. Some of them came ​as far as twenty miles on Sunday to hear the De Moss family sing. It became such a popular place that the De Moss family were exhausted physically, financially and from a point of provisions.
"Dr. Hines came along one day—he was a young man then—and he heard the family sing and liked it. He also learned that they were in need and were getting nothing for their entertainment. He happened to have an organ and the elder De Moss traded a cow for this instrument. After that they gave many entertainments and charged admission. The De Moss family has ever since been on the road, and it has traveled in every way and everywhere where it is possible for a human being to go."
Published by George H. Himes, together with another song, Oregon, by Col. Frank V. Drake, and a poem, "Pioneer Day," by Ella Higginson, on "Half Century Anniversary of Treaty with England whereby Oregon—historic Oregon—came under the jurisdiction of the United States."
This is one of the most charming of Oregon songs. The first stanza is as follows:
The Beautiful Oregon Shore. Words and music by W. J. Crawford. Salem. Oregon Teachers' Monthly. 1903.
My Sweet Willamette Maid. Words and music by Nat Kren. Portland. Graves and Company. 1905.
Oregon, Our Oregon. Written for the Lewis and Clark Centennial, 1905. Words by Inez E. Adams Parker. Tune—"Maryland, My Maryland." Pioneer Transactions, 1928.
The Mission Bell. Words by Agnes D. Campbell; music by David B. Campbell. About 1902. Salem. The Western Songster. 1921.
   This was the youthful production of two members of a talented family—the brother and sister of the great educator who was president of the University of Oregon. Agnes Campbell is now a novelist and artist. David Campbell is a well-known musician of the Pacific Coast and lives in Portland. When he was asked over the telephone when it was published, he had forgotten about the song until reminded of it by the inquiry. He was about ten years old when he composed the music for it.
   Rob Roy Parrish, the harness maker and poet of Independence, is considered more fully in the chapter "Minor Poets from 1870 to 1900."
   Z. M. Parvin was at one time head of the music department of Willamette University and president of the Northwestern Normal School of Music in Salem.
   Edward J. Finck was one of two talented brothers. He was born in Bethel, Missouri, in 1851 and came to Oregon in 1862 with his parents, who were members of the Aurora Colony. He was the composer of two instrumental pieces with Oregon titles—Belle of Oregon and Belle of Portland. He helped form the Amateur Musical Society in Portland in 1875, the first regular orchestral organization in the city. In 1888 he won first prize in a national competition for the best method of piano playing. He died in 1915 and is said to have left much unfinished work in manuscript. The other brother was Henry T. Finck, for many years music critic of the New York Evening Post and author of the books Pacific Coast Scenic Tour and The Golden Age of Music that contain charming Oregon references and recollections.
MacMillan Ordway. Portland. Graves and Company.
   Mrs. James MacMillan Ordway has written much verse on pioneer and patriotic themes, particularly for the Annual Pioneer Reunions. She is the author of Oregon Summer Days, and Oregon, a drama. Born on Tualatin Plains in 1865, she began writing rhymes in girlhood. Her father, Captain J. H. MacMillan, was president of the North Pacific History Company of Portland, publisher of Elwood Evans' richly illustrated two-volume work on Oregon and Washington.
   Alden Harness is a book dealer and poet of Roseburg, who has published some pamphlets of verse and whose poem on Joaquin Miller is printed in this book.
1910–1935
   Souvenir of the Panama-Pacific Exposition.
   In Praise of the Hardihood and Stick-to-it-iveness of the Oregon Pioneers.
   Harry L. Stone, now a retired citizen, was for many years secretary of the Portland Y. M. C. A.
   Dedicated to the Royal Rosarians, Portland, Oregon.
   March song. Official Rose Festival song.
   Frances Gill, an Oregon poet, is author of The Little Days and Windy Leaf.
   The Oregon State Song. In December and January, 1919–1920, the Society of Oregon Composers conducted a contest for the Oregon State Song. A total of 212 song manuscrips were received and are preserved by the Oregon Historical Society. J. A. Buchanan's Oregon, My Oregon was the song selected.
   Written for 1920 Imperial Shrine Convention held at Portland.
   Patriotic state song.
   Mrs. Eva Emery Dye is the well-known Oregon novelist to whom a chapter is given in this book.
Oregon, A Garden of Roses. Words and music by C. W. Paula. Oakland. R. E. Richards. 1925. The Old Columbia Shore. Words and music by Bertha E. Hughey. Portland. The author. 1925. Flying Thru’. Words by Lou Miles Hancock; music by Daniel H. Wilson. Portland. Liberal Printing Com- pany. 1927. Portland's Own Lindy Song. Pioneers, Dear Pioneers. Words by Charles T. Dickinson. Tune—“Maryland, My Maryland,” or “Martyn”. Published in the program for the Reunion of the Ore- gon Pioneer Association, 1935; also in Pioneer Trans- action, 1928.
The Land I Love the Best. Pioneer Transactions, 1928. About Oregon but the author and composer not given. The Thirty-Third Star. Words and music by Carl Sumner West. Portland. J. K. Gill Company. 1929.
Champoeg Memorial Song.
Portland County Jail. Included in Carson J. Robison's Collection Mountain Ballads and Old Time Songs. Chicago. M. M. Cole Publishing House. 1930. Dreamy Oregon Moon. Words by Walter Hirsch; music by Maurice Staub. Portland. Irving Sklare Music Publishing Company. 1931. On To Oregon. Words and music by Ruby Wilson Retherford. Portland. Retherford Studio. 1931. Where Roses Grow. Words by Lynn Cowan; music by John Caldwell. Portland. Irving Sklare Music Publishing Company. 1931.
March On To Oregon. Official American Legion Convention Song. Words and music by Alan Green. Portland. Irvi ing Sklare Music Publishing Company. 1932.