Here's the version I learned as a kid here in VA:

In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia,
On the trail of the Lonesome Pine,
Stood a nice old cow, with eyes so kind,
But how d'you 'spect a cow to read a railroad sign?
She stood in the middle of the track
And the train came and hit her in the back,
Now her head's in the Valley of Virginia
And her tail's on the lonesome spine.