In 1837 when Alfred Jacob Miller was twenty-seven years old, he journeyed with Captain William Drummond Stewart to the Rocky Mountains. Miller was the first artist to penetrate this region, and to document the history of the American Fur trade and the opening of the West. His are the first pictures of the trappers, Indians, Rocky Mountains and Oregon Trail. As a critic for the Baltimore American wrote in its review of Miller's work in 1838, "...he has travelled through remote sections of the 'Far West' where he succeeded in giving views of the Rocky Mountains and other scenery that do him much honor" (quoted in P.H. Hassrick, Alfred Jacob Miller: Artist on the Oregon Trail, Fort Worth, 1982, p.3.)

Throughout his career, Miller painted the landscape and people of the West with a romantic's hand. The Sioux and Shoshone Indian women were favorite subjects of Miller's, and he depicted them in and around their villages, performing tasks of daily life. According to Ron Tyler, Miller found the Indians to be extremely good athletes, particularly when it came to horseback riding. The artist himself wrote, "On approaching the band, his body swaying to and fro, the noose part is flourished above the head, and as opportunity offers, is flung with great precision and dexterity, around the neck or leg, whichever appears most feasible to the Indian" (quoted in Tyler p. 111) A similar drawing entitled Throwing the Lasso is in the collection of the Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska. (cf. R. Tyler, Alfred Jacob ÿiller; Artist on the Oregon Trail, Forth Worth: 1982)