I don't know if this song 'counts' as a "gold rush" song, because I think it was written at least a few decades after the California gold rush, but this song, popular in the 1930s, I think, is a prospector singing to his pack mule.


THERE'S A GOLD MINE IN THE SKY
Words and music by Charles & Nick Kenny, ©1937.
As recorded by Gene Autry on Columbia (37003), 1937.

There's a gold mine in the sky far away.
We will find it, you and I, some sweet day.
There'll be clover just for you down the line
Where the skies are always blue, pal of mine.

Take your time, old mule; I know you're growin' lame,
But you'll pasture in the stars when we strike that claim
And we'll sit up there and watch the world roll by
When we find that long-lost gold mine in the sky.

Far away (far away), far away (far away),
We will find that long-lost gold mine some sweet day,
And we'll say hello to friends who said goodbye
When we find that long-lost gold mine in the sky.

Far away (far away), far away (far away), in the sky.