the growth of a State

Interstate Evolution.
---------------------

Once ther was a man who hacked out his way
Towards a small clearing as the light did fade
Where he pitched up his tent, overnight to stay
And looked back down the path he had made.

And when the morning sun rose, it's rays fulfilling
He decided that his home he had finally found
So he set down to work, cutting logs, and building
His cabin there, in the first place around.

Then he cleared the ground, working hard, nearly beaten
And then sheep and cattle and grain he brought back
And at the end of his very first season
The path he had made had become a track.

The following spring came a girl young and fair
Who said from her father away she had run
Together they worked in the summer's sweet air
And at the end of that season she gave him a son.

The years went by, he built his homestead anew
And shacks for the men who had come from the plains
To work on the land he had claimed for their few
And then the track he had ridden had become a lane.

Up went a church, built by a preacher from afar
And a whisky still for the men at the end of the day
Someone else raised a saddlery, and a saloon bar
And the blacksmith and barber opened up for trade.

Then came the liars and swindlers to bring the place down
And so they had a sheriff, and built up a jail
Making the rules and the laws of their town
That lane was then a wide road, even carrying the Mail.

The railroad arrived with it's great goddesses of steam
Hauling in businessmen, gamblers and prospectors alike
And the offices towered above the masses as they streamed
Along many streets, hoping their fortune to strike.

Now the airplane, the automobiles and the factory floors
The multinationals and the politicians with their sly talk
The microchips and megaton bombs that lie at our doors
Make people too wary to step out on the sidewalk.

So whenever you next to our city do travel
To visit old friends, or just find your fate
Just remember the man who laid down the gravel
That you now just know as Interstate 108.

FCTG : 12/4/85

Return to FCTG's "thoughts index", or go to FCTG's home page, or write back to the author.