The Fernhopper Legend

Appendices

Appendix A.

Marv’s Songs

by Marvin L. Rowley, Class of 1950

The Fernhopper Legend

Out west in Oregon, near the Pacific sands,
Among the hills, where the Douglas-fir stands,
And Wapito wander in ghostly bands,
Bracken fern grows rank and tall.

The man who dares trespass this tangled forest,
Finds the going tough as he nears the crest.
If he makes it through, he’ll need a rest.
Bracken fern standing like a wall.

A crew of boys from OAC climbed a brackened hill,
A tangled bracken fence resisting with an iron will,
And if nature hadn’t helped they would be there still,
In bracken fern, rank and tall.

In that mass of bracken hung a paper packet,
Home of a denizen of the forest, queen yellow jacket,
And all her clan making quite a racket,
And bracken fern hid them all.

Those poor lads bayed like a trailing hound,
When they pushed that packet to the ground,
And the yellow jacket clan began to bound.
Bracken fern jumping, what a ball.

That hapless crew hopped over fern and dale.
They hopped over trees and they beat a trail,
Back to Corvallis with a groan and a wail,
Bracken fern hoppers back in Peavy’s Hall.

Their names are lost, but the facts are best,
And all future foresters must endure unrest,
With the title of FERNHOPPER, forester of the West,
Where bracken fern grows thick and tall.