A woman this very morning sent me three early citations of the song at the Minnesota Heritage Songbook site, of diverse provenance. I haven't had time to examine them yet, but it looks like there is a lot still to be learned. It's too late to go into Version 7.0 of the Ballad Index, but it should be in Version 7.1.

https://mnheritagesongbook.net/the-songs/addition-song-with-recordings/red-river-valley/

and scroll down to the comments by Bonnie Taylor-Blake.