Roll On, Columbia

Chorus:

Roll on, Columbia, roll on Roll on, Columbia, roll on

 

Your power is turning our darkness to dawn

 

So roll on, Columbia, roll on!

 

Green Douglas firs where the waters cut through

Down her wild mountains and canyons, she flew

Canadian Northwest to the ocean, so blue / Roll on, Columbia, roll on

 

Other great rivers add power to you

Yakima, Snake and the Klickitat too

Sandy Willamette and Hood River too / Roll on, Columbia, roll on

 

Tom Jefferson's vision would not let him rest

An empire he saw in the Pacific Northwest

Sent Lewis and Clark and they did the rest / Roll on, Columbia, roll on

 

It's there on your banks that we fought many a fight

Sheridan's boys in the blockhouse that night

They saw us in death but never in flight / Roll on, Columbia, roll on

 

At Bonneville now there are ships in the locks

The waters have risen and cleared all the rocks

Shiploads of plenty will steam past the docks So roll on, Columbia, roll on

 

And on up the river is Grand Coulee Dam

The mightiest thing ever built by a man

To run the great factories and water the land It's roll on, Columbia, roll on

 

These mighty men labored by day and by night

Matching their strength 'gainst the river's wild flight

Through rapids and falls they won the hard fight / Roll on, Columbia, roll on

*Written to celebrate the harnessing of the Columbia River in the U.S. Pacific Northwest