Russell’s “paper talk,” or illustrated letters, gave free rein to his verbal and visual talent. Although putting words on paper came hard to him, he possessed a natural gift as a storyteller, along with the ability to summarize the key elements of a story or description in a well-chosen illustration. Surviving rough drafts of a few Russell letters—as well as preliminary sketches for the illustrations—indicate that he planned some of them in advance. After the 1919 Victory Stampede in Calgary, Alberta, Canada (so named to celebrate the end of World War I), Guy Weadick was out of rodeo for three years. He bought a ranch on the Highwood River in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, a country Russell remembered fondly from his youthful sojourn in Alberta in 1888; it was in that country that Russell first observed the northern bands of the Blackfeet Indians. At Weadick’s ranch the cattle wore the TS brand, and the spread doubled as a dude ranch, hosting guests under its full name, The Stampede (T.S.) ranch. As the illustration in Russell’s letter shows, the ranch was located in an area with spectacular foothills and mountains. As Russell writes in his letter, such country could be inspirational, and although he disliked tourism in general he appreciated those who chose to “rough it” in the wild country that had claimed his own heart when he first saw it as a young man.