In the early 1920s a group of Charles M. Russell’s closest friends in Great Falls, Montana, were partners in the Montana Newspaper Association, a venture that published advertising supplements in the state’s daily newspapers. They hit upon the idea to publish a series of entertaining stories chronicling the history of the Old West, and they prevailed on Russell to provide pen-and-ink illustrations for each one. These stories appeared nearly every Sunday for a year, from March 5, 1922, through February 18, 1923. Most of Montana’s 170 newspapers carried this popular series. For his part, Russell was glad to participate; he loved the history of the American West and avidly read many books on the subject. Today these wonderfully narrative drawings stand apart from the articles they once accompanied. The original ink drawing pictured here was originally in the estate of the artist’s widow, Nancy C. Russell. It is part of the largest selection of them to be found anywhere—almost half the number that the artist eventually produced for the series. In each of them, Russell’s fluid and dexterous lines create a vivid picture of truly historic events—elevating them to the power of epic and myth. The Spanish introduced cattle to California, but it was not until Mexico gained independence in 1821 that California was opened up to trade. In 1822 a Boston-based trading firm began sending ships loaded with finished goods from New England to the California coast, where they restocked their holds with tallow, cattle hides, and otter pelts for the trip back home. Richard Henry Dana, a Harvard graduate who sailed from Boston to California on the merchant brig Pilgrim in 1834, described the trade in his classic seafaring novel Two Years Before the Mast (1840).