Clearly not "sung by cowboys" on the trail, however much one might wish it were so.
Albert Frank Beddoe and "John D. Beddoe" seem to have written it - all out of their own heads - for the "folk opera," "Go Lightly, Stranger," book by Thomas W. Beddoe, copyright 1953.
The same work included "Copper Kettle" - also, evidently, out of their own heads own head.
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sj