In the days when herds of buffalo still roamed the Plains, Charlie was a boy in St. Louis, Missouri, who dreamed of the West--it was where he wanted to be. When he was 15 years old, his parents let him travel to Montana Territory with a family friend, hoping that would chase his Western dreams away. Instead, Charlie found himself in a place he never wanted to leave. He worked as a cowhand, lived with a hunter and trapper, spent a winter with the Blood Indians. Always Charlie was listening to stories he could draw, looking for stories to tell with his brushes.