Gary,
No alledgedly about it. The Caledonia mine is in Cape Breton. Now closed. The setting is around the mid to latter 1800s. It is "brochans", which is the SCOTTISH Gaelic word for shoes. It is sometimes spelled "brogans". There is no doubt in many minds that the song lyrics comes from Cape Breton. The movement of miners has taken it back to the old country(ies) and to the US.

It's popular still in Cape Breton. There, one of the verses seems to have come out of the Peggy Gordon song, which has been very popular in Nova Scotia.