WE’RE celebrating the holidays with Harold F. Cruickshank—creator of those great Aces of the Western Front’s Hell Skies—Red Eagle, Sky Wolf, and Sky Devil. But this holiday season it’s going to be a down home Christmas featuring Cruickshank’s Pioneer Folk stories from the pages of Range Riders Western (1945-1952) on Mondays and Fridays; and Cruickshank’s own recollections of homesteading life from The Edmonton Journal’s The Third Column on Wednesdays.

Cruickshank wrote 35 stories chronicling the trials and tribulations of Dal and Mary Baldwin as they carved out their piece of the Wilderness in Sun Bear Valley, Wyoming and establish a growing community. Another family arrives in the valley in the form of Tom and Ella Bruce and their infant daughter. Unfortunately for Dal, they took the advice of that rascally half-breed Quirt Malotte on their way there and their dog and flock of sheep they’ve brought with them arrive first and trample through Dal’s crop and Mary’s garden. The Bruces more than make up for it when lightning touches off a fire in the valley.

From the December 1945 number of Range Riders Western, it’s Harold F. Cruickshank’s Pioneer Folks in “Red Harvest!”

Dal Baldwin and his wife Mary can even forgive woollies when a sheepman comes to their aid in a time of trial!

• Download “Red Harvest” (December 1945, Range Riders Western)

Be sure to stop back Friday when the Baldwins find themselves with “Terror Neighbors!”