First Wagon Trail (First Wagon Tracks) by Charles M. Russell
Charles M. Russell | First Wagon Trail (First Wagon Tracks) | 1908 | Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper | 18 1/4 inches x 27 inches
About the Work
First Wagon Trail would have been set in the 1840's, when wagon trains heading for Oregon first cut paths across the plains. The Braves show little evidence of contact with the white man and are puzzling over what manner of beast has left the tracks in the dust. The squatting warrior on the left gives the sign for Buffalo, but the remaining Indians are each absorbed in their own thoughts of what could have left the trail. In First Wagon Trail, Russell views things from the Indian perspective, where, for once, the white man's ways appear peculiar.
