author
James W. Whilt
A cowboy poet of the American West, he turned life in Montana and Glacier country into plainspoken, memorable verse. His poems draw on work, wilderness, and camp life, giving them the feel of stories told beside a fire.
1 Audiobook
Rhymes of the Rockies
by James W. Whilt
About the author
Born in Benton County, Minnesota, in 1878, he later made his life in Montana and became known as "The Poet of the Rockies." He worked as a cowboy and spent many years in and around Glacier National Park as a guide, caretaker, trapper, and rancher, experiences that shaped the voice and subjects of his writing.
Whilt is best remembered for Rhymes of the Rockies, a collection of poems rooted in mountain landscapes and frontier life. The poems reflect a strong attachment to the outdoors and to the practical, rough-edged world of pack trips, campfires, and work on the range.
He died in 1967, but his writing still offers a vivid glimpse of the Rocky Mountain West as he knew it. For listeners who enjoy regional poetry, nature writing, or firsthand voices from an earlier American frontier, his work has an easy charm and a strong sense of place.