Adapted from a story told by Charles Russell in Trails Plowed Under.
Everybody knows Charles M. Russell was one of America’s greatest cowboy artists but few know he was also a pretty good storyteller. I first read this story some forty years ago and it remains one of my favorite Christmas tales. I changed a few things but it is based on Charley’s original story.
Santa Claus sometimes m

True West May/June 2025
In This Issue:
Features
- Historic Hotels of the American West
- A Journey Through Wyoming’s Outlaw History
- A Journey Through Washington’s Wild Frontier
- Blazing The Oregon Trail
- Journey Through Time
- Did Brigham Young Order a Massacre?
- Mountain Meadows Scapegoat John D. Lee VS. A Firing Squad
- Mormons in the Movies
- An Indigenous Consultant Ensures Accuracy
- The Battle Axe And A Raw Deal
- Showdown: Bridger VS. Brigham
- The Mountain Man and the Mormon Moses
- The Ghosts of Mountain Meadows
- The War Before the War
- Mountain Meadows