Grand Island-Summer of Fifty-three
Copyrighted by: Verne Garrison
December 12, 1012
Banjo tuned E, Capo 1, Key of A

     A           D             A
Grand Isle was a patch of timberland
                               E
Between Bath Chute and the Illinois River
    A            D          A            
On a map it was shown as Grand Island
                           E      A
Water on all sides, really just a sliver

As a young forester, I marked trees for harvest
Helped fall, cut the trees down
Set chokers, pushed, pulled logs to waters edge
Dumped into Bath Chute, rafted to Beardstown

How we rafted the logs is in another song
It was a chancy job, in hot summer heat
You had no choice, you had to go along
The float to the sawmill wasn't exactly a treat

My thoughts go back to that summer of 53
Fighting skeeters, snakes and barges galore
But we were just as happy as could be
For that fall we married, opening life's door

Yeah, Rafting Logs On the Illinois River,
My song tells more of the story
A chancy job, but you had to go along
Just another chapter in our life's history