William W. “Bill” Cheely was a well-known figure in Montana newspaper circles. He had begun as an editor in Butte, the rough-and-tumble city of the copper kings. One of his friends recalled that his stories for the newspaper “had a factual base, but he din’t hesitate to salt them with sprinkles of fiction and a gaudy kind of glamour in dealing with the hot rivalries and occasional outbreaks of violence when state boundaries were being defined.” As vice-president of the Montana Newspaper Association, Cheely had been a partner in syndicating “Back-Trailing on the Old Frontiers,” (1922–23), a weekly series of historical sketches illustrated by Russell. In this letter Russell makes reference to Montana history in equating the plight of California Indians with that of a group of Cree refugees who were fighting for land of their own closer to home. He also has praise for western actors, like his friend Harry Carey, who were authentic riders and stuntmen, even though they represented the West in their films more through fantasy than real history.