Untitled Page 4

3.
"We defy thee, White Sierras!
And ye plains of the Nevadas,
Barren sweeps of dusty sage-brush,
With that awful range beyond
With the blue peaks of the Mountains

Looming up beyond the sand
The blue peaks of Rocky Mountains

As like sentinels they stand

We defy ye all together!
Has not God, the great Creator,
Given man the power to conquer?
Given man to have dominion

Over all his earth-creation?

And the Mountains heard the challenge;
And across the Rocky Mountains,
And across the weary desert,
And across the white Sierras

As the purpose of this man,
Was worked out in high endeavor

Such a Continent to span,
He was met with difficulties