Will Rogers visited Montana and spoke frequently about Montana political figures. He was good friends with Charles M. Russell and Russell did a special statue of Will called “On a Horse with No Name.” Will asked him change the first statue because he said, “A horse never has all four feet on the ground.” The original first statue is at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum.
“Almost at the same time we read of the death of Charles M. Russell, the Great Cowboy Painter, of Great Falls, Montana. He was the greatest Artist the west has ever produced. Charley was a Cowpuncher. He was a Cowpuncher at heart. He didn’t go there to study the west, just to paint it. He loved it, lived it, and painted it because he loved it. An old $60 a month Cowpuncher lived to see his paintings bring as high as $15,000 and now there is no telling what they will bring. He is just starting in to be great now. To have known Charley and just sit down and listen to him was the greatest remembrance of anyone’s life who had had that pleasure. I never met a person yet that ever heard him that didn’t say he was the greatest story teller they ever listened to. If he could have just sit on the stage and told his stories most of his own experiences up in Montana in the days gone by, why he would have been as big a success as he was an Artist. No matter at what party and who was present, why no one would dare take up a minute of the time with any of their stories. It was always Charley that everyone was wanting to hear.” – Weekly Articles – 1926
“A couple of weeks ago I had to cover pretty much the whole state of Montana and it’s some state, third in size. I found a fine flyer with his own plane and just kept him with me all week and we flew everywhere. Would stay all night in the town I had just played, get a good night’s rest, take my time about getting out in the morning, have a nice breakfast and then we could leave just whenever we wanted to.” – Weekly Articles, 1927