The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1926-11-05

around him during his sojourns in the art
%centers, never touched the big simplicity
of his nature.
The Indians and cowboys Of his can
vases bear out his oft emphasized creed of
accurate craftsmanship. They were al
ways anatOmically correct. They never
the wrong hand. Each detail had biOlOgi-
cal and sartOrials correctness. You could
tell that his horses had been "broke" by the
saddle marks and the brands. Whether it
was the pattern of a flannel shirt or a
medicine mans coup stick, Russell drew it
as he knew it to be. He was too genuine
to trust to tricks Of imagination. Once
he said to a critic: Il try to paint true
Thus, being a cowboy and truly west
ern, ne preserved for pOsterity as no one
else could do, the cowboys the cowboys
life and the things the cowboy saw and
knew in their absolute true light. Such
a chapter in American history demanded
preservation for reasons aesthetic and
practical alike, and it is fortunate that, at
a time when fiction was so bel1e1ng the
western race, Mr.. RusselIs actual knOwl-
edge and graphic expression in art pre-
served the true story OF the cowboy and
ity the sweep and majesty and splendid,
clean atmosphere of the plains.
Russel's Life in Montana
The story of Charles 81. RusselTs life has
often been told, and most MOntanans are
familiar with the romance Of his early
| DAYS on the state = Lnen unDEOkeu plains.
He was born at st. Louis, Mo-, March -,
1865, and more than 46 years of his life
have been spent in Montana.
At the age of IA, a restless boy who had
heard much of the far west, and who could
not be- made to attend school by his par
ents, he was forever dreaming of Montana
and the Rocky Mountain region. He had
heard the alluring stories of this wonder
full country of unOwned expenses ever since
the time he was first old enough to under
stand them. On several different Occas-
ions he ran away from school and started
for this great west, only to each time be
brought back to his home. RusselIs faith
err, Charles S. Russell, who was a wealthy
manufacturer of fire brick, at length came
to the conclusion that the boy was so de-
| termined to go west that it would be i'm
possible to hold him at home longer.
His Ancestors Were Frontiersmen
Young Russell had come by this love OF
the west naturally for his great uncle on
his mothers side was William Bent, one
of the most famous characters of western
frontier life. RusselI's grandmother was {
! sister of William Bent.
The Bent family is one of the oldest and
most distinguished in st. Louis. SilaS Bent
father of RusselIs grandmother, was bOrI
in the colony of Massachusetts in 176S. Hi:
father was one of those who attended the
f Boston Tea Party" Silas Bent came t
William w. Bent, with his three brothers
Charles, George and Robert, became prOmi
: nent in the Indian trade in the west be
tween 1920 and 1880 and remained trading
in that region until they died.
George Bent was on the Upper Missouri
. in what is today Montana, as early as 1S1'
in the employ of the American Fur com
pany. In 1924 William Bent built a tradins
post on the Arkansas river in Colorado
t just below the present city of Pueblo ant
, was the first permanent white settler II
what is now Colorado. In 1928 this sam
+, William Bent with st. Vrain, another not
q ed Indian trader commenced the %cOnStruc
4 ton of the celebrated Bents. Fort on tn
D Arkansas river about 10 miles from wher
Pueblo stands today. 1t was destined t
. become the most famous of all the west
a ern trading posts from the Mexican line t
Canada, not excepting Fort Union or For
. Benton.
. The Boy Comes West
Shortly after Russell had passed hi
l. 18th birthday, in the spring of 1880, hi
father placed him in charge of a mar VIII
was headed for Montana. This man wa
e pike" Miller, Tor Wallis Miller, as he wa
Y known to Others). He owned a sheep ranc
s in the Judith Basin country and was