Who is the author of the Canadian folk song "Red River Valley"?

The song "Red River Valley" is a foreign folk song. Americans believe that the song comes from Texas in the United States in the 1860s, while Canadians firmly believe that the song has a northern flavor and clearly belongs to Canada. In this regard, our country seems to be more inclined to believe that this is a Canadian folk song, because after all, the United States is still labeled as an "imperialist country", and Canada is more loved by the Chinese because it is the hometown of Comrade Bethune.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, singing "foreign folk songs" was almost a symbol of the rebellious new youth, especially this song "Red River Valley", which was unmatched at the time. The original English version is called "Red River Valley". It is said that the English version is far less beautiful than the Chinese version, and the Chinese lyrics are more simple and elegant. It can be called a classic of English poetry translation. Canada was originally inhabited by Indians and Eskimos, and their music has a unique style. Indian music has a long history. Folk songs include hunting songs, warrior songs, witch doctor songs, religious ritual songs, love songs, etc. The singing is in 2/4 time, the accompaniment of the drums is in 3/4 time, and the scale is mostly pentatonic, but also has six or seven-tone scales. The folk songs of the Eskimos living in Canada are mainly hunting songs, boating songs, women's labor songs, etc. Eskimo music is monophonic and pentatonic. Canada is a country of immigrants, so Canadian folk music includes both French-style folk songs and British-style folk songs. These songs were brought by immigrants from their original countries, forming Canada's unique folk song style. This song has been circulating for a century, but people still have a lot of controversy about its birthplace. Some people think that the "Red River" sung in the song refers to the Red River in Texas, so the films with the same name as the song "Red River Valley" shot in 1936 and 1941 used the Red River in Texas as the location, and "Red River Valley" is used as the theme melody throughout the entire film. Some people also think that "Red River" refers to the Moha River in New York State, because a song with lyrics published by pioneer James Cregan in 1896 is very similar to the content of "Red River Valley". Others believe that the Red River refers to the river that flows from western Canada into Lake Winnipeg... But usually people always regard this song as a Canadian folk song.