The Old Swing Tree

By Hilda Perkins

There's a cottonwood tree by the river

Whose branches reached both high and wide

Its memories still set hearts a quiver

Tho they're scattered, and many have died.

If the old swing tree by the river

Could tell all the stories it knows,

Of love, and of fears; of heartaches and tears,

Of happiness, sorrows and woes:

It could tell how its branches protected

The settlers who came there to pray,

And many a young maid was courted

In its swing, built for two in her day.

Its branches protected the people

Who settled the Valley with hope,

Where the river wound gracefully onward

And the red cliffs with past echoes spoke.

The river has taken the swing tree.

The memories of it linger on

With past generations of lovers

Who remember it clearly and strong.

Photo courtesy Images of America Early San Juan County, LaVerne Tate

The Old Swing Tree

By Mary Kisten Adams Perkins
Published in San Juan Centennial Sampler 1980

Foreword:  When the pioneers arrived at what became Bluff and before they had time to build "The Bowery" (a shed of cottonwood limbs), they organized a Sunday School and held meetings under the "Old Swing Tree"  For years, it was the favorite place to stage social parties and pleasant meetings.  Lovers met there, and people in sorrow came to the tree to think and ponder.
This tree became part of the fence in Bishop Nielson's field and with its lofty spread of protecting limbs and rugged strength in meeting the wind and the storms, it symbolized Bishop Nielson's unremitting vigil in his long fight to maintain the little settlement of Bluff.


(Photo from Frank Wright Collection, San Juan Historical Commission)

Yes, I remember the "Old Swing Tree"

Its sturdy roots and gnarled limbs.

Nature built you for a swing.

The tallest I have ever seen.

Were you lonely in fields of corn and alfalfa?

No, there were children's patter and laughter.

Speak out old tree and tell us

When everyone came to Sunday School,

How the singing filled the air.

With thankful hearts for his loving care,

The pioneers met to workshop God

Under the branches of the Old Swing Tree"

AN AFTERTHOUGHT

First, through lover's lane they came,

Young and old romances began

There were Lillie, Henry, Jennie, Arthur, George, Annie

Albert, Lell, Fletch and Hanna, Frank and Hattie and many more.

Tell us your secrets, Old Tree, if you can

No, you cannot -- through the ravages of floods, you are gone.

Where are the lovers?  Just memories.