Russell worked a wide variety of jobs in the Montana Territory; hunter, trapper, and cowboy. He became thoroughly familiar with the ways of the West by living those ways. He was a friend of the Indian people and lived with the Blackfeet tribe in Canada for a time. He learned their language and this experience shows in many of his drawings and paintings.

Russell along with Frederic Remington are considered to be the two greatest exponents of Western cowboy and Indian art. Both were born in the same decade, were largely self-taught, and were drawn to the frontier at an early age. Russell had to struggle to gain recognition, but once he achieved it, he enjoyed the rewards of a long and fruitful career.

In the early days, Russell frequently gave away paintings to friends, left them on bunkhouse walls or kept them for himself. After marriage, however, his wife Nancy marketed his work throughout the United States and Canada, and within a few years he commanded prices well up into the thousands.

Major collections of his work are in the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana; The Montana Historical Society, Helena; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas; Gilcrease Institute, Tulsa, Oklahoma; and the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, Oklahoma City.