Russell owned a copy of William T. Hornaday’s popular book, The American Natural History (1903), which sought to raise public awareness concerning the endangered species of wildlife in the America West. Russell himself needed no prompting on this issue; from the beginning he had spoken out against the wanton slaughter of the buffalo, the grizzly bear, the mountain sheep, the pronghorn, and the wolf. At one point he told his protégé Joe DeYong that the animals’ ranges were shrinking so rapidly that would be “no wild country in the world unless something happens.” Long before he learned to cast his sculptural works in bronze, Russell modeled many of his subjects in less permanent materials. As with all his wax models of this type, Russell created the general shape of the animal first, then stuck wires in it to stiffen it and attach it to the base. He explained that it was easier for him to fashion the natural musculature and fluid movement of the animal that way. The underbody of the gray wolf reproduced here was made of beeswax mixed with small amounts of paraffin and various resins colored a dull brick red. The base was made by pouring a mixture of Plaster of Paris around a coil of thick iron wire, then shaving the plaster down with sculptor’s rasps to achieve the effect of a rocky outcrop. Both wax and plaster surfaces were then coated with a sealer—more than likely shellac—before being painted with oil colors thinned with a little turpentine. Sometimes the artist added a protective coat of varnish to protect the painted surface. In most of his models, Russell usually employed other materials for added detail; here he used small painted glass beads for the animal’s eyes and a tuft of unbraided hemp rope to represent range grass. This is among a set of models of animals that were part of an important collection of Russell’s work that was owned by the Mint Saloon in Great Falls. These models were never altered by being cast in bronze, and are thus in excellent and original condition.