The National Miner.
[AIR—Massa's in the cold ground.]

When gold was first discovered,
At Coloma, near the mill,
All the world at first endeavored
To get here, and they keep a coming still;
When our war was through with Mexico,
And we paid them for the land,
Those who had fought at Palo Alto
Were driven off by nations they had tanned.

Chorus:
Down in the deep ravines,
Hear that roaring sound,
There the miners are digging,
Digging in the cold, damp ground.

When our glorious Yankee nation
Sent her war-ships to the coast,
They left the mines for all creation—
Now, tell me, who is benefited most?
Here we're working like a swarm of bees,
Scarcely making enough to live,
And two hundred thousand Chinese
Are taking home the gold we ought to have.
Down in the deep ravines,
Hear that roaring sound, etc.

Here they make their Queen Victoria laws,
In spite of simple Uncle Sam,
And jump our diggings, say they'll break our jaws —
Our government, they say, ain't worth a d—n.
When I make enough to take me home,
I'll leave the mines well satisfied,
I'll give old Johnny Bull my long-tom.
To prospect where it never has been tried.
Down in the deep ravines,
Hear that roaring sound, etc.


Put's Original California Songster, p. 40

Lyrics and tune in Dwyer & Lingenfelter, The Songs of the Gold Rush, pp. 89-90

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Click to play (pdmusic.org)

[Tune notes by Artful Codger]
"Massa's in De Cold Ground", by Stephen Collins Foster, 1852.
Sheet music [PDF] in the Lester S. Levy Collection
Digital Tradition entry [no music]
Mudcat thread: Massa's in De Cold Ground (lyrics only, as of this writing)

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