The End of the Trail personifies the despair of the American Indian over the loss of his native land. Inspired by a poem by Marion Manville Pope, Fraser began working on the model in 1894. John Big Tree, chief of the Seneca tribe, posed for Fraser at his Coney Island studio in 1912. Three years later, the completed heroic size plaster model was exhibited in San Francisco at the Pan-Pacific Exposition (now in the collection of The Cowboy Hall of Fame, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma). Two life-size casts are known: one in Waupun, Wisconsin and another at Mooney Grove, Visalia, California. In addition, bronze reductions in several sizes were cast by the Roman Bronze Works foundry.

The present bronze is an example of an early sjetch for the monument. It lacks the spear and several of the sddle details found in the final version.