We left early to go to Great Falls a little over a hundred fifty miles away. Route 89 took us all the way from St. Mary to Great Falls. The first thirty miles of winding road took us over an hour but except for a short stretch of construction, the road was pretty good. We passed a swampy area and I said it would be a good place to see a moose. About a mile further on there was a huge moose standing all alone in the middle of a field.
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| He was in the Middle of a Field... Ted Just Couldn't Find Him |
In Browning Ted went in to a convenience store to get a breakfast sandwich. It was two big pieces of grilled homemade bread with scrambled egg, hash browns and four sausage links between. I have never seen anything like it. We stopped a few times for him to try to get in touch with the campground in St. Mary to no avail. We decided to wait and check in with them in the morning to make sure they were going to open.
When we got to Great Falls, we went to the Charles M. Russell Museum. Charles Russell was one of the premier western artists of the late 1800s and early 1900s. He captured the spirit and culture of the west of his time and his art is said to be part entertainment and part history lesson. The museum has hundreds of his paintings, sculptures, drawings and illustrations that Russell created from childhood until his death in 1926. Of the sixteen galleries, five were devoted to his works arranged to show the evolvement of his work. The detail in his paintings of the cowboys he worked with, the Plains Indians and the wildlife were incredible but the illustrations he made on letters he sent to people made me wish I had known him and had received a letter from him. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any photos inside but do have a few from the grounds.
On the first level there was a gallery of Browning firearms, an O.C. Selzer gallery who was a friend and colleague of Russell, a George Catlin gallery whose works we had seen while at Lake Sakakawea, and the horse drawn hearse that Russell's wife had secured to transport his remains at his request. It was a beautiful piece of work.
In the basement level there were sections devoted to bisons, both paintings and artifacts made from buffalo hides and bones. There was also a large display of Indian clothing with its intricate beadwork. There were dozens of pairs of beaded moccasins as well as dresses and shirts and children's clothing. The nearly two dozen headdresses were amazing to see. They were decorated with feathers, fur and beads. Some had hanks of hair attached to the feathers and we wondered who got scalped in order to decorate the headdresses.
The gallery where Russell worked as well as the home he lived in were on the property and we got to see both of those before we had to leave. We spent over two hours there before arriving at 2:15 for my 3:15 appointment for an endoscopy. My phone had died and they had been trying to call me to come in earlier. They rushed me in and before I knew it, I was waking up and telling Ted over and over to make sure he had my i-Pad. The trip back to St. Mary took less time and we were back by 7:30.
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| Russell Studio |
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| Russell Home |
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| Coming Back Down into St. Mary |
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