Well, Bruce, in "Folk Song USA" (1947), John and Alan Lomax say the lyrics of "The Old Settler's Song" (Acres of Clams) were written by an unknown miner. They say this was the best ballad from the Northwest that they knew of, and that this is one of many lyrics sung to the tune of the old Irish air, "Rosin the Beau."
the "Rise Up Singing" songbook says the song was collected by John and Alan Lomax, and written by Judge Francis B. Henry, whoever he was.
So, which source is one to believe? I'm inclined to think the real author is "anonymous."
-Joe Offer, not quite in the Northwest-

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Here's what the Traditional Ballad Index has to say about the song:

Acres of Clams (The Old Settler's Song)

DESCRIPTION: The prospector reports on the sad fate of the gold rush men: "For each man who got rich by mining... hundreds grew poor." He decides to abandon digging and head out to be a farmer near Puget Sound. This, too, proves hard, but he is too poor to move again
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940
KEYWORDS: gold farming poverty settler derivative
FOUND IN: US(NW)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Lomax-FSUSA 55, "The Old Settler's Song" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Cohen-AFS2, pp. 621-622, "The Old Settle (Acres of Clams)" (1 text plus part of an early sheet music pring)
Darling-NAS, pp. 283-284, "Acres of Clams" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 48, "Acres of Clams" (1 text)
DT, OLDSETLR*
Roud #10032
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "The Old Settler's Song" (on PeteSeeger47); "Acres of Clams, " [parody] (on PeteSeeger47)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Rosin the Beau" (tune) and references there
cf. "A Hayseed Like Me" (tune, lyrics)
File: LxU055

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The Digital Tradition version is almost exactly the version published in Best Loved American Folk Songs (Folk Song USA), by John and Alan Lomax, 1947. For some reason, the DT version does not have the refrain. Here is a corrected version of the DT song, with refrain.


OLD SETTLER'S SONG or ACRES OF CLAMS
(Francis D. Henry)

I've traveled all over this country
Prospecting and digging for gold,
I've tunneled, hydraulicked and cradled,
And I have been frequently sold.*

      REFRAIN
      And I have been frequently so-o-old,
      And I have been frequently sold,
      I've tunneled, hydraulicked and cradled,
      And I have been frequently sold.*

For each man who got rich by mining,
Perceiving that hundreds grew poor,
I made up my mind to try farming,
The only pursuit that was sure.

So, rolling my grub in my blanket,
I left all my tools on the ground,
I started one morning to shank it
For the country they call Puget Sound.

Arriving flat broke in midwinter,
I found it enveloped in fog,
And covered all over with timber,
Thick as hair on the back of a dog.

When I looked on the prospects so gloomy,
The tears trickled over my face,
And I thought that my travels had brought me,
To the end of the jumping-off place.

I staked me a claim in the forest,
And sat myself down to hard toil,
For two years I chopped and I struggled,
But I never got down to the soil.

I tried to get out of the country,
But poverty forced me to stay,
Until I became an old settler,
Then nothing could drive me away.

And now that I'm used to the climate
I think that if a man ever found
A place to live easy and happy,
That Eden is on Puget Sound.

No longer the slave of ambition,
I laugh at the world and its shams,
As I think of my pleasant condition,
Surrounded by acres of clams.

      REFRAIN:
      Surrounded by acres of cla-a-ams,
      Surrounded by acres of clams,
      As I think of my pleasant condition,
      Surrounded by acres of clams.

*The refrains of all subsequent stanzas are similarly formed by repetition of the fourth and third lines.


This version is from "Best Loved American Folk Songs (Folk Song USA)," by John and Alan Lomax, 1947. The song text first appeared in the Washington Standard, April 11, 1877. The song was published in 1902 and attributed to Francis D. Henry. The original text and the Lomax version used the word "niggered" instead of "struggled."

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