LOCAL LIT: ‘Pinery Boy’
marking Eau Claire’s sesquicentennial with a 19th century folk song
V1 Staff |
The lumber industry in 1872 required workers to cut timber during the winter and run the logs downriver in the spring. All these jobs were dangerous, and workers regularly lost limbs or life. According to Tim Hirsch, professor emeritus at UW-Eau Claire, “Pinery Boy” was sung by Mrs. M.A. Olin from Eau Claire for folklorist Franz Rickaby in the 1920s. Mrs. Olin says she learned the song from a neighbor boy in 1867.
Oh, a raftsman’s life is a wearisome one,
It causes many fair maids to weep and mourn.
It causes them to weep and mourn
For the loss of a true love that never can return.
“O father, O father, build me a boat,
That down the Wisconsin I may float,
And every raft that I pass by
There I will inquire for my sweet Pinery Boy.”
As she was rowing down the stream
She saw three rafts all in a string.
She hailed the pilot as they drew nigh,
And there she did inquire for her sweet Pinery Boy.
“O pilot, O pilot, tell me true,
Is my sweet Willie among your crew?
Oh, tell me quick and give me joy,
For none other will I have but my sweet Pinery Boy.”
“Oh, auburn was the color of his hair,
His eyes were blue and his cheeks were fair.
His lips were of a ruby fine;
Ten thousand times they’ve met with mine.”
“O honored lady, he is not here.
He’s drownded in the dells I fear.
’Twas at Lone Rock as we passed by,
Oh, there is where we left your sweet Pinery Boy.”
She wrung her hands and tore her hair,
Just like a lady in great despair,
She rowed her boat against Lone Rock
You’d a-thought this fair lady’s heart was broke.
“Dig me a grave both long and deep,
Place a marble slab at my head and feet;
And on my breast a turtle dove
To let the world know that I died for love.
And at my feet a spreading oak
To let the world know that my heart was broke.”
To celebrate Eau Claire’s sesquicentennial, Local Lit curator Bruce Taylor and Volume One worked with veteran Eau Claire musician Billy Kraus (shown here) to create a special video version of this installment of Local Lit. You can find it online at
volumeone.org/videos.
