In Kaura Ungalls Wilder's book "By the Shores of Silver Lake" (which is part of a semifictional autobiography series) Laura's Pa has a job as Paymaster for a camp that is laying railroad tracks. Laura's cousin, whose father is a career railroad man, sings the "striped shirt" verse. Laura was born in 1867, and is 12 in the book, so the year is 1879.