Um, April 9, 1885 (when it was printed in the Daily Advertiser, Trinidad, CO, as Lin mentioned above, quoting Lingenfelter &o.) predates April 25th by a few weeks. Other sources also mention that it first appeared "in a Colorado newspaper". It was so often reprinted without attribution that, despite the poem's popularity, McCandless's name soon faded into obscurity until his authorship was reestablished in relatively modern times.

Judging from several versions purporting to transcribe the original text, the poem was not divided into stanzas. As a song, it has been divided into both six-line stanzas (evenly) and eight-line stanzas (with either a long last stanza or an orphan couplet). Sprague only recorded the first four stanzas. I avoid an orphan couplet by omitting the one that begins "He started in business"; it strikes me as a weak pun and a distraction from the main point being illustrated.