Table of Contents
The Miner Poet: Poems of Pres Longley edited by John Rudderow and Nancy Leek
19th century miner describes the rambunctious days of
California's Gold Rush era through his verse and prose
Introduction xi
True Poets Are Prophets 19
To Emma 20
The Miner’s Wish 21
Love and War 22
Fashion and the Press 24
The Golden Era 26
A Literary Experiment 28
Ellen Poe 30
Miss Ann 32
California 33
Vale of Leoma 35
A Bear Story 36
Rosanner 37
The First and the Last 39
Lines To Etna — A Valentine 41
Why Poor Will! 42
Women and War 43
The Lone Tree House 45
Christmas 47
Poets in the Mines 49
Don’t Want Any More 51
1870 53
Montgomery Street by Gaslight 55
Sweet Hildie 57
The Other Shore 59
Minnieopolis 60
The Last Hour of Leap Year 61
The Girl I Saw on L Street 62
The Prospect 63
Packing His Blankets 65
The Bachelor’s Inquiry 66
“She Runs in the Cold” 67
The Rhymes of the World 68
Sitting Bull 69
Song of the Pine Tree 70
Song 71
Forty-Niners 72
Voices of the Water 73
Sweet Brier 75
Rancho Chico 76
It Has Come at Last 78
Kitty 79
Offer Me Not 80
The Journey of Life 81
The Critic 82
Chimney Rock 84
Winter 86
“Slumgullion” 88
Acboslic 89
Matrimonial 90
Rain Drops 91
“Tempus Fugit” 93
Pearl Mansfield 95
Spring Frogs 96
At Delta 98
The Iron Horse: An Acrostic 99
Song of the Times 100
Songs, Kisses and Smiles 104
The Year Is Dead 105
Mary’s Little Lamb 106
Protect My Back 107
The Old Foot-Log at Helltown 108
“The Only and Greatest on Earth” 110
The Bard of Butte Writes an Acrostic for an Oroville Belle 111
An Awful Yell 112
True Poetry 114
Plumas 116
The Grasshopper 117
Belongs Here 118
Joe Finnicum in Poetry 119
Ben Will Have to Go 120
The Present Panic 122
Old Diamondville 124
An Acrostic 126
Bacchus 127
Death’s Valley 128
The Dead Titan 132
Snyder 134
Two Bugs 135
Sunset on Butte Creek 136
Boneyard Flat Tragedy 137
Mineral Slide 138
Klondyke 140
“Buster” 142
Whiskey Jack 144
The Tuneful Frog 145
Three Voices 147
Gray Eagle’s Last Shot 148
Lucky Baldwin 149
Expansion 150
Obituary 152
Prospecting 153
The Fuller Jack Pot 154
Mountain Breezes 156
He Wants “Grub” 158
The Register 159
A Letter from Senator Perkins 160
Short Biography of A.P. Longley 161
John D. Nash 162
The Cosmopolitan 164
The Sun God 166
A Grain of Corn 167
The Rock of Ages 168
The Wild Goose 169
Life at the Infirmary 170
The Gem of the Foothills 172
An Acrostic 174
Photo of Alexander Preston Longley 175
Endnotes 177
