Weekly Gem #292, A land that's fair and bright
Published 8/5/2023
Location: This weekly gem is located 5 miles north of Marysvale, UT (see the Clue Me! Map). Big Rock Candy Mountain is a land that's fair and bright. The handouts grow on bushes. And you can sleep out every night...
At least that's what the song says. But this is not the "Big Rock Candy Mountain" that Harry McClintock sang about in 1928. The song came first. Then some clever locals put up a sign naming this the Big Rock Candy Mountain. They even discovered a nearby Lemonade Springs (where the bluebird sings). Yum!
Big Rock Candy Mountain is sure to whet your geological appetite. The colorful stripes on the mountain are beautiful and look almost good enough to eat. At least if you’ve got a craving for hematite, pyrite, or kaolinite. Or maybe … there’s a lake of stew that you can paddle all around in a big canoe.
In fact, there was quite a concoction about 20 million years ago, with hydrogen sulfide, oxygen, groundwater, and heat, under a helluvalotta pressure. Then the “stew” blew and spewed sulfer-laden ash, rocks and lava. As the landscape eroded, the presence of different minerals has shown up like colors in a swirled candy sucker, reds, yellows, oranges and white. Yum!
So, we'll see you all this comin' fall in the Big Rock Candy Mountains.
Harry McClintock (“Haywire Mac”) was an adventurous soul with a short attention span. He ran away to join the circus at the age of 14. He went to Africa to help build a railroad. He was a mule packer in the Philippines. He was a spellbinder for the union movement. In between these activities he rode the rails as a minstrel, a hobo, and a railroad employee.
And of course, he was a songwriter: https://youtu.be/tLKdxjCpw6U
One evening as the sun went down
And the jungle fire was burning
Down the track came a hobo hikin'
And he said, "Boys, I'm not turning
I'm headed for a land that's far away
Beside the crystal fountains
So come with me, we'll go and see
The Big Rock Candy Mountains
In The Big Rock Candy Mountains
There's a land that's fair and bright
Where the handouts grow on bushes
And you sleep out every night
Where the boxcars all are empty
And the sun shines every day
On the birds and the bees and the cigarette trees
The lemonade springs where the bluebird sings
In The Big Rock Candy Mountains
In The Big Rock Candy Mountains
All the cops have wooden legs
And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth
And the hens lay soft-boiled eggs
The farmers' trees are full of fruit
And the barns are full of hay
Oh I'm bound to go where there ain't no snow
Where the rain don't fall, the wind don't blow
In The Big Rock Candy Mountains
In The Big Rock Candy Mountains
You never change your socks
And the little streams of alcohol
Come a-trickling down the rocks
The brakemen have to tip their hats
And the railroad bulls are blind
There's a lake of stew and of whiskey, too
You can paddle all around 'em in a big canoe
In The Big Rock Candy Mountains
In The Big Rock Candy Mountains
The jails are made of tin
And you can walk right out again
As soon as you are in
There ain't no short-handle shovels
No axes, saws or picks
I'm a-goin' to stay where you sleep all day
Where they hung the jerk that invented work
In The Big Rock Candy Mountains
I'll see you all this comin' fall
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains"
.........
Here's the hidden gem entry from our Clue Me! map.
Clue
The lemonade springs where the bluebird sings
Description
Big Rock Candy Mountain
Why It's Interesting
Does the old song make you think of these rocks? Or the other way around?
