J. Lawrence immigrated from England to the United States, and set out West to the Cariboo at the promise of wealth and economic independence. As the song describes, however, he leaves the Cariboo with his hopes “dissolved by the gold mines.” The song highlights the diversity of people who came searching for prosperity, as well as the frustration and struggle that awaited settlers who came to seek their fortune.
lyrics
Know ye the land where the bare rocks and old pines
Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime?
Where the last hope of thousands, dissolved by the gold mines,
To many bring sorrow, drive others to crime.
‘Tis the land of adventurers gleaned from all nations –
English, French, Yankee, Italian and Jew –
Uncared for all former distinction and stations,
All find the same level who seek Cariboo.
‘Tis the land of the gambler, the thief and the debtor,
Of the storekeeper ruined through trusting to jaw
Where the sentence of Begbie loads those with a fetter
Whom he should hang in justice but cannot by law.
‘Tis the land of log cabins, bed rock, flumes and ditches,
Hydraulics and sluices, of tunnels and shafts,
Where in keen strife to accumulate riches,
All friendship’s forgotten and hardened all hearts.
‘Tis the land of false swearing, of cursing, blashpheming,
Where the sharper by poker and monte gained wealth.
Where he who is cute can live easy in scheming
While the miner’s soon bankrupt in pocket and health.
It is here that the Almighty Dollar is rated
A god in this Anglo-American land
Where the greatest of blackguards if lucky is feted,
While the poor man, though honest, may starve and be damned.
Know ye the land where the bare rocks and old pines
Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime?
Where the last hope of thousands, dissolved by the gold mines,
To many bring sorrow, drive others to crime.
How happy I’ll be when I’m on board the steamer,
How joyful I cannot find language to tell,
When wishing each miner and loafer and schemer,
Cariboo and its horrors a final farewell.
credits
from Settler's Songs of the Pacific Northwest,
released June 2, 2017
Words written by J. Lawrence in Horsefly in 1865; melody adapted from a hymn tune first printed in 1835. This is thought to be a parody of Byron’s “The Bride of Abydos.”
Thomas, Philip J., and Shirley A. Cox. Songs of the Pacific Northwest. Ed. Jon Bartlett. 2nd ed. Surrey, BC: Hancock House, 2007. Print. pgs 48-49, 201.
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