Irwin Silber in his "Songs of the Great American West" says it "was probably composed around 1856 or 1857".

And Kendall, since we nearly always play in schools, we never, never do the verse about the baby clothes but we always include the verse about Hangtown, which is what Placerville used to be called (after it was called Dry Diggin's). If you go to Placerville today you can still see a Hangtown Shopping Center, a Hangtown Florist, a Hangtown Pharmacy, etc.

Bev and Jerry