From: lyzettecelestite@outlook.com   
      
   On Saturday, January 11, 2020 at 10:37:52 PM UTC-8, kassko...@gmail.com wrote:   
   > Sang it in scouts in Wyoming in the 80s with much love.    
   >    
   > We were told it was written by an old lady and after she died, the music was   
   found on her piano the next day.   
      
   I was told by my elementary school music teacher that the song (or at least   
   the lyrics) was written by a little girl who died of cancer.  The little girl   
   was said to love watching the barges on the Columbia River (so she would have   
   lived in Oregon or    
   Washington if this was true).  There are some Portland hospitals near the   
   Columbia river, there are probably some in Vancouver as well (and other   
   smaller cities and towns in both states).  It is certainly true that barges   
   travel the Columbia River and do    
   go out to sea directly from it.  One commenter was confused by the red and   
   green lights for port and starboard; these lights function as turn signal   
   lights at night.  While that isn't as urgent at sea, it is extremely important   
   to know which way a vessel    
   is turning in a river.  I don't think a barge could actually make a full turn   
   in the Columbia River (I doubt it's wide enough), but those running lights   
   would still be required.  Perhaps they could or do use those lights to   
   indicate on which side they    
   intend to pass another vessel (another extremely important thing to know).    
   The song was especially memorable to me because I've always believed she lived   
   in the area where I grew up.  Whatever the real story is, it's a pretty little   
   song.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)