Visit with us now in the legislative assembly room of our capitol in Helena.
My name is John J. Jewel.  I am standing in the center aisle of
the chamber of the House of Representatives in the State Capitol at Helena.
I am standing in front of the great masterpiece of Charlie Russell's entitled "Lewis and Clark
Meeting the Flatheads on the Fifth Day of September, 1805.
I was a member of the
Legislature in 1913 from Fergus County and sat right over there in the third seat in the back row
and during the month of January, I heard Charlie Russell come before the Legislature
and described this picture to us.
He told us about the meeting of the Indians with Lewis and Clark
and I remember particularly he mentioned the fact that there should be lights on the picture
and he waved his hand around to show why they should be
and the picture is not properly lit yet.
This shows an incident that took place on the fifth of September, 1805
when Lewis and Clark came over the Bitterroot Mountains
to the headwaters of the Bitterroot River and met what they called the Oshcahoots Indians; they were Flatheads.
Russell put into this picture
everything that's mentioned in the Lewis and Clark journals from that time.  It shows the indian village
on the left-hand side of the picture.  It shows York over here; the last man on the right-hand side of the picture.
Lewis and Clark standing beside each other.
Sacagawea with their papoose on her back,
the robes that are being put on the ground for the chief, and the medicine man, and Lewis and Clark to sit on during the
council.  The man squatted there holding the pipe between the appaloosa horse picking grass that they're going to smoke.
The three Indians
with looks of curiosity upon their faces pointing and looking over to York, never having seen a
colored man before.
No Indian that Lewis and Clark ever came in contact saw an Indian.  On the albino horse ridden by the chief, you will see
on his right shoulder a
coup mark that means that that horse has treated that chief very well in battle.
Then you look for one moment at the background.
If you went up there during the month of September of any year that's just exactly what you would see shortly after sunrise.
On the right hand side of the picture,
the sun has risen and burnt all the fog away.  On the left-hand side, the sun has not yet
arisen over the mountains to the east, but it shows the mountains in the back
with the sun and the snow on them, and the mountains down below in a shadow and the
fog still there.  This is the best picture that Charlie ever wrote.
Why don't you, when you come to Helena, be sure and come in to the museum,
Russell Museum, and then over here.
There's a guide here at all times to show you this wonderful
picture of Charlie Russell's; the most wonderful that he ever painted in his life time.
This broadcast was prepared by the Greater Montana Foundation.
