In the state of Colorado
In the year of seventy-four
They crossed the San Juan Mountains
Growing hungry to the core.
Their guide was Alferd Packer
And they trusted him too long:
For his character was weak
And his appetite was strong.
They called him a murderer, a cannibal, a thief;
It just doesn't pay to eat anything but Government-inspected beef.
Along the Gunnison River
An Indian camp they spied.
An Indian chief approached them,
To stop them he did try.
He warned them of the danger
In the snow that lay around,
But the danger was in Packer,
For his hunger knew now bound.
They called him a murderer, a cannibal, a thief;
It just doesn't pay to eat anything but Government-inspected beef.
Two cold months went slowly by;
Packer came back alone.
