My great-grandfather used to sing a version of this song. The lyrics were a little different...

Beside a western water tank on a hot midsummer's day
Beneath an open boxcar a dying hobo lay.
His partner knelt beside him with a low and drooping head
And listened to the very last words the dying hobo said.
Oooooooh...
"I'm going," said the hobo, "to a land that's fair and bright.
The climate is so healthy, the pigs stay out all night.
Where hammocks grow on bushes and people never wash their socks
And little streams of whiskey come tricklin' down the rocks."

Soooooooo...
Tell my girl in Denver, who's face I'll never view
That I have caught the eastbound train, and I am comin' through.

Wellllllll...
His head fell back and his eyes fell shut and he breathed his last refrain…
His partner stole his shoes and socks and caught the eastbound train!


I always liked the line about the pigs when I was little. :-)

We're from the Reading area of Pennsylvania. I've seen Danville and Muncy mentioned
in versions of this song, both Pennsylvania towns about two hours west of Reading.   So I don't know if its true roots are Pennsylvanian. Could be.