About the year 1812, Lord Selkirk settled some of his Gaelic-speaking tenantry in the Red River Valley of what is now southern Manitoba. Please note, Q, that this was roughly 25 years before John Clement Reed became "one of the first" ranchers in the Texan Red River district. In fact, Texas was still part of Mexico when the northern Red River Settlement was established. So the existence of a Gaelic chorus to the song Red River Valley might add weight to the Manitoban claim for primacy. Keith A of Hertford, please post this Gaelic lyric from your mate's great-grandfather. It would be so cool if the words referred to, for instance, the Pembina Hills or the storm-tossed waters of Lake Winnipeg or the Metis encampment at The Forks.