As I gaze around our valley at the wonders that I see,
My mind can’t help but wander back to days that use to be,
When the pioneers and settlers first set eyes
upon this land,
There was nothing here to greet them but mesquite and drifting sand,
How they fought the muddy Colorado when it went
on its rampage,
And how they beat that awful river and in history wrote a page.
But with their river troubles over, their work
had just begun
For they would carve an empire from this land of sand and sun.
They built the mighty All American, a wonder in
its day,
A canal that ran a river a hundred miles the other way.
Yes, they leveled off the sand dunes and put
water on the land,
Now their crops grow green and golden where there once was drifting sand.
Four hundred thousand acres they irrigate today,
And some take it all for granted and think it just happened that way.
But some of us know better, and we’ve got
good reason, yes, to know
Our folks beat the water here, and four generations watched it grow.
Sometimes when my day gets weary, and the sun
seems extra hot,
Those men appear from yester-year, and say "Thank God" for what you’ve got!
©Richard (Rick) Mealey