This Man Has Gold to Buy

This Man Has Gold to Buy

lyrics inspired by...

Original Source Material: This Man Has Gold to Buy

Year: 1887

Author: Cincinnatus Hiner Miller AKA pen name Joaquin Heine Miller

Album art: stereographs from the Library of Congress archives

Liner Notes: see below

Born Cincinnatus Hiner Miller, he renamed himself Joaquin after the legendary California outlaw Joaquin Murieta. His life reads like frontier folklore: at various times he was a miner, Pony Express station operator, newspaperman, lawyer, county judge, teacher, criminal, and poet—one of the most colorful literary figures of the American West.

Miller's exploits included:

✔️ traversing the real Oregon Trail

✔️ moving to California during the Gold Rush 

✔️ living with Native Americans and teamed up to fight the Battle of Castle Crags against another tribe where he was shot in the jaw but recovered

✔️ rumored to have married a Native American woman but he claimed it was totally platonic

✔️ ...but he did marry a girl on Sunday he had just met on Thursday; in his words, "Oh, to what else but ruin and regret could such romantic folly lead?"

✔️ taking an expedition to Nicaragua

✔️ Pony Express station operator

✔️ County judge and horse thief (separate occasions)

✔️ blamed his divorce for stealing his seat on the Oregon Supreme Court

✔️ last words were "Take me away; take me away!"

“This Man Has Gold to Buy” is drawn from Section VII of The Rhyme of the Great River (Part II) in Miller’s 1887 book Songs of the Mexican Seas, first published in Boston by Roberts Brothers. The song rearranges lines from the original public-domain text.

The poem belongs to Miller’s long narrative cycle about the American West—full of prospectors, rivers, rumor, and restless fortune seekers. The voice that runs through it is clear that money isn't everything.

In conclusion, Cincinnatus is projected to be the #1 baby boy name in 2026 by the Social Security Administration (jk, but looking at any pregnant readers to consider the name; time for a comeback!) - oh and click here to add 'This Man Has Gold to Buy' to your streaming library.