Gate at Sun Ranch Has Seen Many Pioneers
Published on Feb. 22, 2020
While researching another project, I came across the following article in the July 10, 1965, issue of The Rawlins Daily Times and just had to pass it along to our readers. According to the Times, “This poem was written by Laurance Jameson, whose ranch post office was Ervay. In it, he mentions most of the owners of the ranches in the Sweetwater Valley. He wrote the poem in 1941.”
The gate mentioned in the poem was built on the Sun Ranch by Tim Sheehan, brother of Dennis and Con, in 1880. The top log extended six feet beyond the gate and held several large rocks which gave it balance. It has not been in use for the last 10 years but remains standing.
The Gate of Perfect Balance
By Laurance L. Jameson, Ervay
We’ve heard about the pioneers
And the stirring tales of old,
Imagine what this gate would say
If its story could just be told.
It has balanced there for ages
Held in place by strips of hide,
And a wealth of western hospitality
Completes the charm of the home inside.
Well it knows of Boney Earnest
And the elder Mister Sun,
It’s been wrapped in the dust of string teams
As they passed there one by one.
The balanced gate by the roadside
Has opened for “Old John Clay.”
Many’s the time Sam Johnson’s hand
Pushed it back at the close of day.
John Nolan, the Durbins and Joe Sharp,
Bothwell, Countryman and P. J. Mac.,
Jammerman, Fletcher, Sheehans and Beaton
They all have pushed it back.
The old gate of perfect balance
Has opened for all who came,
I wonder if the Great Gate up yonder
Has opened just the same.
I’ll bet my horse and saddle
And throw in all the steers,
That the Golden Gate was in balance
When approached by these pioneers.
Do not pass the old gate unheeded
If you chance to pass that way.
It has seen more of the old west
Than all of us folks today.
