“A large body of Indians, Traders, and Trappers are here congregated, and the view seen from a bluff is pleasing and animated,” Miller wrote. He was largely relieved of all the duties related to the trail except care of his own horse, so that he could walk about the rendezvous site and sketch and draw as he pleased. He described this scene:
In the middle distance a race is being run, the horses in all cases running in a direct line and never in a circle as with us…. Ball playing with bandys [a hocky-like game] and other games are largely indulged in…. White Lodges ranging from 12 to 16 ft. in height are scattered at random over the plain and reach almost to the foot of the distant mountains. (Ross, 1968, text accompanying plate 175)
Miller borrowed a familiar landscape composition from one of his early sketches (CR # 170, 170A, 170B, and 170C) for the setting for the Indians who have gathered on the bluff to watch the proceedings in the valley below. Stewart appeared in the original composition (CR #170, private collection) but not in the subsequent ones.
