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The words came from John A. Stone (a.k.a. Old Put), one of the most popular entertainers during the gold rush
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The song was first published in Put's Golden Songster in 1858, the second of his publications after his phenomenally successful Put's Original California Songster published in 1855, which sold 15,000 copies.
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The song is an old English music hall tune called Villikins and His Dinah with the words adapted to describe the hardships of the journey by land to California.
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A large number of the gold seekers were from Pike County, both Missouri and Illinois, named for General Zebulon Pike, discoverer of Pike's Peak.
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Soon a “pike” in California dialect referred to all natives of Missouri, Arkansas, northern Texas, or southern Illinois.
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