Pop Stoneman wrote it or someone from his neighborhood.
My Grandparents used to live on cedar springs road at Camp , Virginia. Its just up the road.
Pop Stoneman was from Fries , Va. Fries is just up the road from Cripple Creek. That area is the "craddle of country music" and i have driven past that cripple creek sign on highway 21 ( or maybe it's on hwy. 58 ) a hundred times and wondered the same thing.
I have a cousin who still owns an 750 acre farm along the New River. He raises beef cattle , christmas trees but his cash crop is corn whiskey. They take it straight to Atlanta every week. So there you go...some things never change.

go to yahoo maps and type in Cripple Creek Va and you wil see what I'm saying.

Ive been to cripple creek ,Co. Fun place and all but it's probably named after the one in Va.