Red Ryder & Little Beaver: Painted Valley Troubleshooters

by Bernard A. Drew

Fred Harman, Jr. (1902-1982) rode onto newspaper comics pages with his dynamic range rider Bronc Peeler (1933-1938) and caught fire with daily and Sunday strips featuring hard-fisted Red Ryder and his sidekick Little Beaver (1938-1964). The duo appeared in comic books, prose books, radio and films. What boy didn't want a Daisy 111 Model 40 Red Ryder Western Carbine? Harman worked in a studio on his small ranch in Colorado. In his later years he turned to fine art and co-founded the Cowboy Artists of America. He helped create the Little Beavertown theme park near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Today his newspaper comics are often reprinted and his oil paintings are valued by collectors and may be seen in the Fred Harman Art Museum in Pagosa Springs.