White Man's Buffalo

The image is from a C. M. Russell painting executed by him in 1919. The document itself is a bill of lading for a wagon load of goods from T. C. Power & Brother in Fort Benton, Montana Territory, in late May of 1882. I could research which of the boats would have arrived that early from St. Louis, because I have that recorded somewhere. Regardless, the wagon was dispatched to the Indian Trader at Fort Shaw, J. H. McKnight. Included on the wagon was a barrel of whiskey, at least 6 barrels of salt and hardwood lumber. The driver had to sign his name to the document. Partridge. No initial. Mr. Partridge signed, essentially testifying the barrel of whiskey would arrive at Ft. Shaw in the same condition it left Ft. Benton.

The image depicts an escaped young steer from a Bull Team, and the Indians are confused as to the nature of the beast they are looking at. The one on the Left is signing Buffalo...hence the title that Charlie gave to this painting that I've attempted to create in miniature.

 

Buffalo Robes No. 3, THE END

A poem and illustration by

C. M. Russell

THE END

By 1881 when this billhead was completed, the Buffalo had all but disappeared with few exceptions. Charlie Russell arrived in Montana Territory in 1880, and perhaps did see a few small herds on the plains between the Yellowstone River and the Missouri.

When Buffalo Nos. 1, 2 and 3 are matted and framed, I will publish the completed piece. This is for a patron who brought this project to me at the Western Heritage Artists Footprints on the Trail Show at the Holiday Inn this past March.

Buffalo Robes No. 2, October 6th, 1868

Killing of Cows and Spikes

Image is from a photograph by L. A. Huffman

taken the Winter of 1881 in Central Montana.

BEGINNING OF THE END

The patron who commissioned these pieces also chose the titles - up front, based on the date of the paper. Huffman took a series of seven photographs of a buffalo hunt in the Winter of 1881, somewhere between the Yellowstone and the Missouri Rivers North of Miles City. The two hunters were staying in a hut they constructed of long posts and buffalo hides that bridged a small coulee. Huffman produced stereoviews from several of the photographs, and this was one of them. Later, he also used this as a sepia tone postcard, and had retouched it.

Huffman also included text on the reverse of the postcard which indicated there were nine animals at this particular site. There were only eight that I could see, but perhaps one was out of this particular view. Huffman used a new camera he had acquired, and although this one appears to be taken from a tripod, several of the photos were taken from the saddle. Tripod or saddle, they are spectacular photographs in more ways than the obvious.

Buffalo Robes No. 1, June 23rd, 1859

A MEANS TO AN END

From C. M. Russell's Running Buffalo

This is the first of three piece I have been commissioned to do, all of them referring to Buffalo Robes. I have seen advertisements for what were called Sleigh Robes, and I would imagine they were sought after for that reason. These that are being sold by this businessman in Boston would have come to them via an Indian trader on the frontier. They would have come from Indians who traded the robes for trade goods, and in 1859, Indians were the source for the robes. This is a story of not only the paper, but the huge herds of buffalo that were almost gone by the time Charlie arrived in the West.

Horse of the Hunter, Buffalo Brewing Company

This is a piece of billhead for the Buffalo Brewing Company of Sacramento, California. I follow several glass groups on Facebook, including Western Bottle Collectors and patent medicines. I love putting glass on old paper, and I also like putting C.M. Russell's fabulous art on paper appropriate for it. Thanks to a good friend, Daniel Lopez for putting this piece in my hands.

Russell Vignettes from the Past

This is a piece of mail art for a couple that were subscribers to my First Day Covers in the 90's. They also purchased a number of Russell related covers from me. I have no idea how many of these I did, nor the number of Russell images I produced in miniature. The Reinke's are more than generous patrons. They are friends. They hung my "art mail" on the wall and made me feel like family. They still do.

The envelopes were produced in 1989 with two runs through the press: The first run was the frame, and the second run was a colorized (by me) version of the stamp in the upper right corner, which was from a C. M. Russell painting entitled "Jerked Down". Some of the envelopes from the first run were reserved, and the one above is an example of an image that I did twice - hence the number 2 behind the title in the lower corner.

This one includes a little extra line treatment on the basic frame by way of the crown, and the color of the frame is different. One of these days perhaps some more of these will see the light of day.

Memories are made of this.