What a strange conclusion to draw Joe.

Your own personal experience confirms what was stated by Phil, yet because you have "often heard tales" and "often heard stories" none mentioning the use of creosote you come out with - "So, I still believe that creosote may have been dumped on excess oranges to make them inedible and thus unmarketable."

That sort of reasoning would suggest that to you - If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it must be a leopard because Woody and Steinbeck told you so. Some "investigator" you must have been, also please never sit on any jury in any criminal trial where only evidence can be considered in reaching a verdict.

I dare say with a fair degree of certainty that "folk history" in both song and story in some instances will be based on fact, on myth and coloured by political thinking and leanings. There will also be a marked difference depending upon when the song was written in relation to the subject being written about. Folk history would therefore be best taken with a very large pinch of salt and should never outweigh studied historical work.