Black Prairie Follow

Upon the Clatsop Plains
There lived a restless man
His fire was not cooled by the rain
His longing for this land

In 1843
With a Tamanawis guide
He crossed the great Mt. Neah-Kahnie
Under stormy skies

The Killamook Tyee
Made him prove his worth
He walked into the forest deep
To the belly of the earth

His name was Elbridge Trask
And he laid his body down upon the grass
Where his heart had called him home

He went solemn to his task
Searching ever for the path
Under branch and moss and stone

From darkness he awoke
With spirits all around
He carried them back tied with a rope
And laid them on the ground

His name was Elbridge Trask
And he laid his body down upon the grass
Where his heart had called him home

The people followed in his tracks
And built their houses on the land
Where the spirits once had flown