First Chain of Rocky Mountains above Fort McKenzie

Golden grasses and a thick haze imbue this scene with the dry warmth of late summer. Bodmer simultaneously focused on the flowering green cactus plants and animal skull punctuating the foreground and the crisp outline of the mountain chain in the distance. Called the Bear Paw Mountains, this range in present-day northern Montana is one of the many remarkable natural features that obtained its name from Indigenous stories. To arrive at such locations beyond the Missouri River, Bodmer and Maximilian relied on guides from regional tribes. Added at a later date, the Native figures resting and surveying the camp situated in the vast valley below populate the landscape with those knowledgeable of its contours.