Saint George and the Drag-On

DESCRIPTION: "Oh what a dreary place this was when first the Mormons found it; They said no white men here could live...." But Mormon industry has transformed it, and "St. George ere long will be a place that everyone admires."
AUTHOR: Charles L. Walker (source: Cheney-MormonSongs)
EARLIEST DATE: 1947 (Fife/Fife-SaintsOfSageAndSaddle); supposedly written c. 1870
KEYWORDS: home work | Mormon
FOUND IN: US(Ro)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Fife/Fife-CowboyAndWesternSongs 26, "St. George and the Drag-On" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cheney-MormonSongs, pp. 113-115, "St. George and the Drag-On" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-FolkloreOfTheGreatWest, p. 16, "(no title)" (1 text)
Fife/Fife-SaintsOfSageAndSaddle, pp. 330-331, "Saint George and the Drag-On" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest, pp.n252-253, "St. George" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8596
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "St. George and Mormon Dixie" (subject: The St. George/Mormon Dixie region)
cf. "Marching to Dixie" (subject: The St. George/Mormon Dixie region)
cf. "Once I Lived in Cottonwood" (subject: The St. George/Mormon Dixie region)
cf. "Lo a Temple" (subject: The St. George/Mormon Dixie region)
cf. "Pounding Rock into the Temple Foundation" (subject: The St. George/Mormon Dixie region)
cf. "Song for the Temple Volunteers" (subject: The St. George/Mormon Dixie region)
cf. "The Gift of the Sego Lily" (subject: The St. George/Mormon Dixie region)
NOTES [217 words]: After the Mormons settled in the Salt Lake City area, they set out to create additional communities in the area. According to Claudia Lauper Bushman and Richard Lyman Bushman, Building the Kingdom: A History of Mormons in America, Oxford University Press, 1999, 2001, p. 51, "To populate these settlements, Brigham Young called upon people to leave Salt Lake Valley and establish new towns. He read their names from the pulpit in general conference sessions, expecting them to pack up their belongings and set out." The Bushmans describe some people's grief at being so ordered, but when de Massa speaks, de Darkies obey.... At least they had the option to quit the church!
St. George is in southwestern Utah, just north of the Arizona border and not far from the Nevada boundary. It is not far from the Dixie National Forest (and the site of the Mountain Meadows Massacre); the Mormons referred to the region as "Dixie." It is perhaps a little more habitable than most of Utah -- and, of course, the Mormons, with their centralized, semi-communal society were very efficient at making a living in seemingly-impossible settings. On the other hand, it was smaller and less pleasant than the Salt Lake area, so we do see complaints about being ordered there, such as "Once I Lived in Cottonwood." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: FCW26

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