The song helped preserve the memory of Jones' feat down through the years in its 40 plus versions and enhanced Casey’s legendary status to the extent that he has even become something of a mythological figure like Pecos Bill or Paul Bunyan to the uninformed.
Finally, with vaudeville performers T. Lawrence Seibert credited with the lyrics and Eddie Newton with the music, it was published and offered for sale in 1909 with the title "Casey Jones, The Brave Engineer".
By World War I, dozens of versions had been published and millions of copies were sold, securing the memory of a new American folk hero.
Poet Carl Sandburg called the song "Casey Jones, the Brave Engineer" the "greatest ballad ever written".
Casey Jones figures in many railroad songs, such as "Freight Train Boogie", by the Delmore Brothers.