Influenced by the American artist George Catlin, Kane sought to create a visual record of the North American Indian whom he believed faced extinction. He travelled with trading parties of the Hudson's Bay Company and stayed at several of their posts between 1846 and 1848. In his works, Kane presents an idealized and romantic image of the West. This sketch of Indian lodges set against the fort at Rocky Mountain House was done during his two-week stay in the spring of 1848.