Carsyn

Research Report on Charles M. Russell

March 26, 2001

 

Charles Marion Russell, Cowboy Artist

 

            “Talent, like birthmarks, are gifted an’ no credit nor fault of those who wear them,” said the famous western cowboy artist Charles Russell. Charles was a cowboy, a painter, a sculptor, storyteller, and “a friend to many.” He loved children and young people, especially the people in Big Sky Country. Without Charles Russell, Montana wouldn’t have visual masterpieces that so clearly bring to life the events of early Montana. This incredible story of his lifetime reveals how Russell was able to show the east and the people of the rest of the world what the west was really like.

Charles Marion Russell was the third of six children in the Russell family. He was born March 19, 1864 in St. Louis, Missouri, to Mary Elizabeth Mead and Charles Silas Russell. Charles was nicknamed “Chas” so people (mainly his family) wouldn’t get him mixed up with his father (Shirley 12). He had four brothers, Bent (the youngest), Guy, Edward, and Wolfert; and a little sister, Sue (McCracken 21). Charles’ family was the owner of Parker, Russell Company, a manufacturer of bricks and tiles. Other than owning the business, they also farmed and coal mined. (Shirley 12; “Brief Biography of Charles M. Russell” 1).

            Charles loved animals and loved adventure, which came from one of his father’s brothers, William Bent, who rode in the Pony Express (“Brief Biography of Charles M. Russell” 1). Charles’ first pony’s name was Jip, and he rode him when he was fighting Indians and running away from or killing the wild animals. In Charles’ imagination, the gully near his house was “War Whoop Gulch,” and the area surrounding the woods were full of “wild Indians and ferocious animals” (Hollmann 96).

            Charles’ father was a voracious reader, and he read tales of adventure and of the West. He inherited a passion for adventure and an independent spirit from his father. He inherited his artistic touch from his mother, who was a well-known artist in St. Louis. She always encouraged him to sculpt and paint. His mother always had a sympathetic and loving ear for his troubles and problems.

            “One of his earliest memories was of a spanking he got for drawing pictures on the front stairs,” wrote Gayle Shirley about Charles’ early memories. Another early memory of his was when he was four years old and he had wandered away from home to follow a man walking in the woods with the man’s own trained bear (since he loved animals). After his parents found him and were on their way home, he scraped the mud off his shoes and molded himself a bear of his own (Shirley 12-14).

            According to Gayle Shirley, Charles kept clay or beeswax in his pocket throughout his life, and he always absentmindedly molded tiny figures, and then would smash it with his thumb and start all over again. Sometimes he would even use hairs from his paintbrush for manes and tails. When he was younger he would carve animals, cowboys, and Indians out of soap and big potatoes.

            Charles was a creative and colorful child, but he couldn’t spell well, and he learned how to read from his father’s tales that he read. In his letters and stories he often made spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. Like his father, Charles was a great storyteller and he loved telling people tales of the West and of Indians and cowboys (Shirley 9-14).

            Charles hated school, although he could read and write, because he had more tempting things on his mind. While in school, he read a lot of ten-cent magazines and weeklies. He would often dig in creek beds for clay and take the clay to school. While teachers lectured he would mold things in his desk so the teacher wouldn’t catch him. Teachers often whipped and scolded him for daydreaming and sketching animals and Indians in the margins of his books. He liked to get teachers back for punishing him. One of his teachers liked to lean back in his chair against a latched door that led down a few stairs to a storeroom. Charles barely unlatched the door so it appeared to be closed. When the teacher leaned back he fell headfirst into a pile of desks (Hollmann 96; Shirley 14-16).

            According to Gayle Shirley, Charles began playing hooky from school-often days at a time. He’d sneak down to the docks along the Mississippi River to listen to the tales of the river men, mountain men, and fur traders’ experiences (14-16). His “chum,” Archie Douglas, helped him get away from school for several weeks at a time. In the seventh week of one of his hookies his father caught him (Hollmann 96).

            In hopes that Charles would grow up to be a well-educated gentleman capable of running the family business, his parents sent him to the Burlington Military Institute in New Jersey when he was 14 or 15 years old. Rather than study, he traded his art for the homework or guard duty. After his first semester-while he was at home during the break-the school manager advised him not to come back, and he didn’t (Hollmann 1). After the military institute, his parents sent him to a local art school, thinking he’d enjoy doing art all day long. To their amazement, he quit after three days, in disgust of sculpting human feet (Shirley 16).

            Charles’ parents decided to just give up on their wish of him taking over the business, and let him fulfill his own dream. On March 15, 1880, four days before his 16^th birthday, he got on the Union Pacific train with Wallis “Pike” Miller (a friend of Charles’ father that owned a sheep ranch near Helena) to go to Montana. At Utah they got off the Union Pacific and got on the Utah Northern to go to Red Rock, MT. At Red Rock they got a stagecoach to go the 200 miles to Helena, which only had 4,000 people at the time (“Brief Biography of Charles Marion Russell” 1; “Charles Marion Russell, Western Artist” 1-4). The stagecoach driver told Charles not to tell anyone in Helena the he was from Missouri, or he’d get hung, and Charles believed him (Shirley 17)! When Charles was riding behind the stagecoach, Crow Indians surrounded and frightened Charles. Then they just laughed and said, “White papoose plenty scared!” and warned him to ride closer to the stagecoach since it was Blackfoot country (“Brief Biography of Charles Marion Russell” 1).

            According to Gayle Shirley, once Charles got in Helena, he bought a mare and a gelding, but eventually sold the mare and instead bought a brown and white pinto gelding for $45 from the Blackfoot Indians. He named the pinto gelding Monte, and the chestnut gelding Red Bird. After Helena, Pike and Charles headed through the snow to Pike’s sheep ranch. They arrived at the sheep ranch in April of 1880 (18). At the ranch, Charles had to be the sheepherder (and he hated it). So almost every day he was out in the pasture he’d start sketching, and at the end of the day he’d come back with less sheep than he’d started with. “I’d lose the damn things as fast as they put ‘em on the ranch,” he said about the job. He soon left Pike, and before Pike could get to firing him. He then went to Utica to try to get a job tending horses. Unfortunately, they knew about his disastrous attempts at sheep herding, so he didn’t get the job.

            Jobless and running low on money, Charles went to the Judith River, reluctantly making plans to go home. While making plans, a mountain man-Jake Hoover-noticed that Charles didn’t have any food or supplies. Jake offered Charles some fresh elk meat that he’d just hunted. While they ate, Charles told Jake about all his troubles. Jake then offered Charles to stay in his cabin, and he accepted (Shirley 18). Jake taught him all about wildlife, animal anatomy, Montana’s past, and Montana’s Indian tribes.

            In 1882, Charles became a night wrangler on cattle drives and roundups on the OH Ranch for Nelson True. He worked there for 11 years. During the spring of 1885, he hung around at saloons drinking with the boys and illustrating the stories they told (“Charles Marion Russell, Western Artist” 2). During the year of 1886-7 there was no unfenced range, which disgusted him, and was the main cause for his ending his cowboy days in 1893. During that winter, temperatures dropped to -60°F. During that winter, Nelson asked him what the condition of the herd was like. In reply, Charles sketched a gaunt, starving cow surrounded by a pack of wolves and titled it “Waiting for a Chinook.” It was nicknamed “Last of the 5,000” because the starving cow was the last of the herd of 5,000 cattle. He tried to become an artist several times during that winter, but always went back to being a cowboy, saying he’d “rather be a poor cow puncher than a poor artist” (“Charles M. Russell” 1-2).

            After leaving Nelson True he went to Pagel Gulch, near Utica, and met Lollie Edgars, who he became quite interested in. “Unfortunately her parents persuaded her against Charlie and he was heartbroken.” Charles then became more serious in his art (“Charles Marion Russell, Western Artist” 1-4). In 1888, Charles visited the Bloods Indians often, and he was given the name Ah-Wah-Cous, -meaning antelope-because of the worn spot on the back-end of his pants. He also learned their language and culture, and ended up knowing around 1,500 Indian words (“Brief Biography of Charles M. Russell” 4). In 1895, his mother died, which drew him and his father even closer (“Charles M. Russell” 2-3).

In October of 1895, Charles got invited to Ben Roberts’ house for dinner-which wasn’t unusual. When he went inside, there was a new face at the table, who Mrs. Roberts introduced as Nancy Cooper, a 17-year old girl who was their housekeeper and babysitter. Charles automatically fell in love with her. He liked her so much that he gave her his favorite horse, Monte. His friends though he was crazy for “giving a gal his hoss,” unless they were getting married, so Monte could still be his horse. People didn’t want them to get married, though. The doctor even told Charles that Nancy had frequent fainting spells. Others would remind Nancy that Charles was 14 years older than she was. When he finally proposed, she refused. He proposed a few more times, and in the end she accepted. They got married “at twilight” on September 9, 1896 in the parlor of the Roberts’ home. Nancy wore a blue wedding gown that Mrs. Roberts helped her make, and a string of blue beads that Charles gave her for a wedding present. Charles always called Nancy Mamie.

“She took me for better or for worse, and I will leave it up to her which she got,” Charles says. They started out living in a one-room shack that belonged to the Roberts. Altogether, they only had $75. About a year after the got married, they moved from Cascade to Great Falls. Once they got in Great Falls they started out living in a four-room house. In 1903 they built a two-story house made of telephone poles-so Charles could always remember Jake Hoover’s cabin. They also built a studio right next door. “The Studio was his home away from home and the place where he created his art.” Charles invited kids and young people into his log studio. To entertain them he’d sculpt an animal out of wax or do Indian sign language with his hands or tell them of his cowboy days.

In 1903, both his horses died. Monte died of old age at the age of 31 years. Red Bird had to be put down, having contracted rheumatism (“Charles Marion Russell, Western Artist” 3).

Nancy, unlike Charles, who was lucky to get $50 for his paintings, charged “dead man’s prices” and got several hundred dollars apiece. In 1911, Charles went to and participated in an exhibit in London (“Time Line”). He did wear a tuxedo, but he was also wearing his cowboy boots and a red sash for a belt. In 1916, Charles -age 52- and Nancy-age 38- adopted an orphan son they named Jack Russell. Charles always bragged about Jack, especially when he was pushing the baby carriage (Shirley 38-53).

“On June 15, 1925 the University of Montana at Missoula gave Russell an honorary Doctor of Laws, an award for attaining greater prominence in art than any other Montana resident in any other field.” Also in 1925, Charles had to go to the hospital to get operated on for groiter. After the operation the doctors told Charles that he couldn’t ride horses anymore, which saddened him and made him weak very quickly.

On Sunday October 24, 1926, at the age of 62, Charles died. He died 20 minutes after a heart attack. His property and studio in Great Falls were left to the city. On Tuesday October 26, 1926, 100 cars followed a hearse that was from Cascade-Nancy couldn’t find one in Great Falls-drawn by two black horses which signified Charles’ love for the great and open range and the old West (“C.M. Russell, Cowboy Artist, Dies”; “Charles Marion Russell, Western Artist” 4). On the day of the funeral, all offices and school buildings in Great Falls were closed. Charles was, and still is, buried at Highland Cemetery in Great Falls (Shirley 53).

According to “Charles Marion Russell, Western Artist,” Charles did art in more than 50 magazines in color, over 100 art calendars, 69 books, and 70 bronze sculptures. He also wrote a book series. Charles painted more than 4,000 pieces of art in his lifetime.

Speaking of famous, Charles knew Will Rogers, Tom Mix, Douglas Fairbanks, Kid Curry, and Teddy Roosevelt. He also knew Rev. Van Orsdale- Charles was Christian-who had stopped at Jake Hoover’s cabin and preached while Charles was there (3).

In short, Charles Russell was both a caring family man and a brilliant artist, who absolutely loved children. His desire to stay with his art and horses was inspired mainly by family members and ancestors. His skill and friendliness with Indians helped him understand other cultures. Although he had little education, he still had the ability to be awarded an honorary award from the University of Montana in Missoula. In his last couple years he had goiter surgery, he couldn’t ride anymore, and sadly came down to his depressed and weakened state at the end, when he died in his two story telephone-pole cabin in Great Falls with his wife and the physician by his side.

Who knows if we will ever see such a great cowboy artist again?