As a clerk at Forts Berthold and the Union, Kurz, a noted Swiss artist, came to know well Indians, fur traders, and officers, and to understand the conditions of life in the region. He aimed "to give from my own observation a sincere portrayal of the American Indian in his romantic mode of life, a true representation of the larger fur-bearing animals, native forests and prairies." The volume, which includes 93 drawings, was originally published as Bulletin 115 of the Bureau of American Ethnology.