Opening The West

And the shining Rocky Mountains looked down on the people coming

Strong and sturdy freedom lovin' settlers cowboys pioneers

Now no foreign crown would rule them

Now a nation strong was standing even bigger was it growing

Added Iowa, Wisconsin then broke through the shining mountains

Staked a claim on California

Panned the gold out of its rivers irrigated desert valleys

Oregon, Minnesota, Kansas now were added to the total

Making 34 to number of the States now in the Union

And the years 1860 to 65 the history books're full of it

The sadness the heartbreak and the songs of that period

Tell us of a sadness and of a heartbreak when the nation was torn asunder