In 1911, journalist and cowboy-style poet Arthur Chapman (1873-1935) wrote a regular column for the Denver Republican newspaper called “Center Shots.”
One night, shortly before the deadline for his column, he was trying to think of a topic when he saw an Associated Press dispatch about an debate between the Governors of the Western states over where “the West” begins.
That story set off a flash of inspiration in Chapman’s mind.
He started typing. In a matter of minutes, he wrote a poem he titled “Out Where the West Begins.”
On December 3, 1911, this now famous piece of Western verse was published for the first time in the Denver Republican.
Chapman’s take on the starting point for “the West” wasn’t about state lines.
In his poem, he put it like this:
“Out where the handclasp’s a little stronger,
Out where the smile dwells a little longer,
That’s where the West begins;
Out where the sun is a little brighter,
Where the snows that fall are a trifle whiter;
Where the bonds of home are a wee bit tighter;
That’s where the West begins.
Out where the skies are a trifle bluer,
Out where the friendship’s a little truer,
That’s where the West begins
Out where a fresher breeze is blowing,
Where there’s laughter in every streamlet flowing,
Where there’s more of reaping and less of sowing,
That’s where the West begins.
Out where the world is in the making,
Where fewer hearts with despair are aching;
That’s where the West begins;
Where there’s more of singing and less of sighing,
Where there’s more of giving and less of buying,
And where a man makes friends without half trying,
That’s where the West begins.”
The poem was reprinted in newspapers throughout the country and gave Chapman wide recognition.
In 1917, it was published in a book collecting his poems, titled Out Where the West Begins and Other Western Verses. That same year, musician Estelle Philleo wrote music for “Out Where the West Begins” and turned it into a song.
Chapman’s nostalgic poem does makes “the West” sound attractive. And, I am a fan of cowboy poetry and music.
But I live the Florida Keys, far from the American West and close to Cuba. Thus, I have a special fondness for the witty variation of the poem’s title that was used by the legendary Havana bar, Sloppy Joe’s.
During the Prohibition era, one of the things American tourists loved about Cuba was that booze was legal there. Sloppy Joe’s capitalized on this by using the memorable marketing slogan: “First port of call, out where the wet begins.”
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