Ithamer and Other Poems

Ithamer Sprague was a notorius practical joker during the early settlement of southwestern Utah. In one of his practical jokes, he tricked an entire town into believing that there was a "bigfoot" roaming nearby. One of his friends, Hans Peter, was in on the joke. Hans Peter's granddaughter, Sharon Hunt, retells the story that was passed down from her grandfather in the poem "Ithamer of the Big Feet." Another poem recounts what really happened when a "tough" cowboy tried to bully a Native American in the wild western town of Pioche, Nevada. These poems and many others remember nostalgic pioneer days and celebrate the humor, values and sentimentality of past times.