Charles Russell was a keen observer of the westward settlement of the nation. In his painting Wagon Boss, Russell presents, as a heroic figure, the person most responsible in assuring safe passage of the wagon train to its destination.

Following the Mexican War, travel increased on the Santa Fe Trail. Fortunes were made in the freighting business supplying eastern goods to the western posts and settlements. Temas of ten or twelve oxen or mules often made as much as twenty miles a day on the long trip from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico - a distance of more than 800 miles. Long caravans of freighters were divided into twenty-five wagon units, seperated by two to ten miles. The wagon boss riding the a horse in the lead had complete control over the units of the train.

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