Song or Story
Streaming Media
Files
Location
Song about Pittston Farm area in western Maine; recorded in Oakland, ME
Rights and Access Note
Rights assessment remains the responsibility of the researcher. No known restrictions on publication. For information about the process and fees for obtaining higher resolution scans or another file format, contact Special Collections.
Document Type
Song
Collector
Sandy Ives
Author
James O’Hara
Date
3-16-1966
NA
66.1
CD
102
Abstract
The song, written by James O’Hara, a woodsman from Maine, described the lumbering operation owned and operated by James McNulty of Bangor, Maine.
Transcription
1. I dreamt last night of a depot camp On the old Penobscot Stream, It’s noted for its good men And McNulty’s pork and beans; It lies along an old tote road Nearby the Canadian line, ‘Tis there you’ll see the toters tote In hail, rain, and sunshine.
2. They tote in all the flour and beans Their grain and all the straw, Our beef it comes from Bangor, Maine, And some from Canada; They take it to our good cook Lou, Who cooks it in a pot, And serves it on the table When it is nice and hot.
Chorus: There is stew, too, that it made by Lou, It is made for me and you, too, We’ll find it on the table When our days work we get through, we do, That’s stew, too, that is made by Lou, It’s made for me and you, He cooked it in a great large pot For Jim McNulty’s crew.
[3. Now Alec and Bob has charge of the job And they hustle out the logs, While Luddy and Max with the cant dogs and ax You’ll find them on the bog; The teamsters they’re as jolly a crew as ever you did see, There’s Stewart Hopkins and Tommy Lynch And laughing Farmer McGee.
Chorus: There’s stew, stew, etc.
4. I had another dream last night, I dreamt I said my prayers, I dreamt I went to heaven, Myself and Herbie Stairs; And when we got up to the gate, Saint Peter we did meet, He said, “You jolly woodsmen Can’t walk these golden streets.”
5. Herbie says to Peter, “Come, Pete, I know you well, I hope you won’t get angry, Goin’ to send us down to Hell.” Peter says to Herbie, “You go back and get your goods, And when you leave the depot camp, You bring up Howard Woods.”
Chorus: And a pot of stew, too, etc.
6. The two of us we started back As happy as could be, knew Howard would be delighted If Saint Peter he could see; But when we got back to the gate, Saint Peter he had fled, He peeked out through a little hole And says, “I’ve gone to bed. You records I have just looked up, Of sins I find but five, You must go back to the depot camp And go out on the drive.”
7. The three of us we started back A-feelin’ mighty blue, I look at Howard And Howard at the stew; Herbie took his scalin’ stick And threw it at our feet, He says, “That’s the very last time I’ll ever speak to Pete.”
8. We heard a shout, “Turn out! Turn out!” A-comin’ along the road, Was Alec and Bob with a load of logs And the logs they were all gold; And right behind was another team, His driver was Jud Cramp, He said, “Saint Peter sent the logs To build McNulty’s camp.”
9. Now when we go to the woods next fall We’ll have a jolly time, Our axes they’ll be made of gold, Our cant dogs they will shine; Our pickpoles they’ll be all gold, too, Made of a golden rod, And we’ll eat golden fishes there Instead of rotten cod.]
10. Now in my dream one year had passed, I’d started out once more, To see if we could find that camp That’s built on the golden shore; We went by the way of Canady, Inquired of all we’d meet, If they’d show us the way to the depot camp, Was built by old Saint Pete.
11. They shook their heads in silence But one man said to me, “You might get some information To call on Saint Zacharie.” We went up to Saint Zacharie, But Zacharie wasn’t at home, And then unto Saint Francis, And they sent us to Saint Come; That good man there was to guide us, When the cookee, “Turn out!” screams, We woke right up in the depot camp, And found it all a dream.
Keywords
The Depot Camp, Bill Cramp, Pittston Farm, Maine, Oakland, lumbering, James McNulty, Bangor, Great Northern Co., Penobscot River, St. Peter, James O’Hara, song
References
Ives, Edward D., ed. “Folksongs from Maine,” Northeast Folklore VII (1965), 15-22. Also see the Fall 2010 Maine Folklife Center Newsletter for a version of this song sung by John Hafford of Allagash, ME.
Disciplines
Ethnomusicology | Folklore | Oral History
Recommended Citation
Cramp, Bill. 1966. “The Depot Camp.” NA66.1, CD102.5. MNortheast Archives of Folklore and Oral History, Raymond H. Fogler Special Collections Department, University of Maine.
Rights Statement
Description
“The Depot Camp” was one of twenty songs included in the seventh volume of Northeast Folklore, “Folksongs from Maine.” The song, written by James O’Hara, a woodsman from Maine, described the lumbering operation owned and operated by James McNulty of Bangor, Maine. Composed in either 1901 or 1902, just a year or two before McNulty sold his operation to the Great Northern Paper Co., the song was reasonably well-known in Maine. McNulty’s camp was located on the North Branch (of the West Branch) of the Penobscot River, north and west of Pittston Farm. St. Zacharie and St. Côme, both listed as reference points in the song, are towns across the border in Quebec. Bill Cramp, who sang the “B” version given in “Folksongs from Maine” (also the version heard here), was in the camp and filled in many details for Sandy Ives and other researchers. The “A” and “B” versions printed in “Folksongs From Maine” exhibited certain differences – for instance, Cramp called the song “O’Hara’s Dream” and he handled the chorus differently – but the tunes were almost identical.
P140: Two men felling tree with saw c1900.
The song combined reality with fantasy as it described some of the logistics of running a logging camp, listed the members of the crew, and then developed a comedic interaction among the crew and St. Peter. Naming local people or members of a working crew was a common practice in songs about life in the woods and elsewhere, including “The Dungarvon Whooper,” “The Bull Moose Song,” “Canaday-I-O,” and many more. And it was often the case that this naming scheme made the song more popular and increased its longevity, at least locally. Available information about the men named in the song can be found below the lyrics. Two questions remain: what was a depot camp and who was James O’Hara? The depot camp was the central or base camp from which other camps in the operation were supplied. According to Bill Cramp, “[O’Hara] was just an old, rough, drunk woodsman, that’s all. Drunk from the time he went down out of the woods ‘til he went back.” But he was a good woodsman, and he made good songs – a list that also includes “McNulty’s Family,” a song about the same lumbercamp. The lyrics reprinted here include Cramp’s complete version of the song, though he only sang approximately half of the stanzas for this recording. The stanzas not heard in this version (three through nine) are contained in brackets; the chorus would also be sung at more regular intervals that Cramp did not follow in an effort to save his energy for the verses.
The crew members named in the song covered the full array of jobs in lumber camps:
P7: Teamster outside lumbercamp with horses and sled, c1900