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EPISODE 22: J.K. Ralston
Howdy folks, it’s the fifth week of March 2025 and welcome to This Week in The West.
I’m Seth Spillman, broadcasting from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
On this podcast, we share stories of the people and events that shaped the history, art and culture of the American West—and those still shaping it today.
One cold morning in Billings, Montana, in 1981, artist J.K. Ralston stepped outside his home, walking toward his log cabin studio.
Photographer Jay Dusard, who had spent the night at Ralston’s house, eagerly sought to capture a portrait of the legendary Western painter. Ralston, a man deeply connected to the past he so vividly depicted, agreed.
Together, they set up a rustic scene with an old Miles City saddle and a pair of handcrafted spurs. As Dusard snapped the photograph, Ralston stood proudly—a cowboy and an artist, a special combination of skills we make it our mission to celebrate.
Today, we remember James Kenneth “J.K.” Ralston, who was born this week, March 31, 1896.
He was born in Choteau, Montana, one of five children. Ralston’s family’s roots, however, ran deep in the West.
His father, William R. Ralston, journeyed from Independence, Missouri, to Colorado in 1859, then to Idaho in 1863, and finally to Montana in 1864, always in search of gold.
The family eventually settled near Choteau, where young J.K. grew up on the cattle ranch his father managed. The family also had a home in the town so their children could attend school.
In 1905, the Ralstons relocated to Helena, where their youngest son had his first formal exposure to art. His mother’s friends encouraged his talent, but he also heard the call of the ranch. He wanted to be a cowboy and spent years riding the Montana range.
In possibly the most “cowboy-artist” moment in history, Ralston hopped on a cattle train bound for Chicago in 1917, got off, and promptly enrolled in the Chicago Art Institute.
World War I and the Spanish Flu epidemic threw a wrench into Ralston’s plans in 1918. He served in the 62nd Infantry, bound for Europe, but the flu delayed his unit’s departure.
When they finally left, their ship traveled halfway across the Atlantic before being ordered to turn around. By the time they reached port, peace had been declared, and the war ended. Ralston returned home without ever seeing combat.
After the war, he resumed his studies at the Chicago Art Institute in 1920. Three years later, he married and moved with his new wife to the West Coast, searching for work. He eventually found it in commercial art, creating illustrations for magazines, book publishers, and advertisements.
However, Montana’s call proved strong. In 1930, the couple returned to take over his father’s ranch, the Roman E, near Culbertson, Montana.
But the onset of the Great Depression made ranching financially unsustainable, so Ralston took a leap of faith, moved to Billings, Montana, opened a studio, and dedicated himself to painting full-time.
By 1939, he started getting commissions. He began painting murals for post offices. His piece in Sturgis, South Dakota, was called “The Fate of a Mail Carrier – Charlie Nolan – 1876,” and told the dramatic story of a young mail carrier killed while delivering mail along the Deadwood Trail.
Ralston traveled around the West to research the landscapes and the history of his subject matter. He insisted on authenticity in his work. He wanted details and accuracy as he traveled around the West, crafting murals for courthouses, post offices, banks, and other buildings.
Ralston contributed to the country’s imagined history of the West as well. His paintings of the Battle of Little Big Horn have been hailed as some of the most accurate. One, “Custer’s Last Hope,” shows a small group of soldiers crouched behind their dead horses, preparing their last defense. Another, “The Call of the Bugle,” envisions the chaos of the battle.
During this creative surge, Ralston and his son built the log cabin studio in Billings, where he would work for the rest of his life.
His reputation grew, placing him among the most lauded Western artists in the country. In 1978, our institution, then known as the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, awarded him a Gold Medal and inducted him into our Hall of Great Westerners.
His thoughts about the West weren’t just contained to paintings. He wrote poems and short stories, often illustrating them himself.
In his book Rhymes of a Cowboy, Ralston wrote about what he saw as his mission: “I have been drawing pictures as far back as I can remember, and I have made it my life’s work to try and make the Old West live again on canvas.”
He died at his home in Billings on November 26, 1987. J.K. Ralston was 91.
Ralston’s log cabin studio was relocated—first to Rocky Mountain College and later to the Western Heritage Center in Billings, where visitors can still see the space where he brought the West to life.
And with that, we’ll hop off the cattle train of another episode of “This Week in The West.”
Our show is produced by Chase Spivey and written by Mike Koehler
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We leave you today with J.K. Ralston’s short poem, “Idols of a Boy”:
“The cowboy was my hero, when I was just a kid.
To me romance and glamour shone, on everything he did;
But of all those lusty heroes, the two outstanding men,
Were Russell with his brushes and Coburn with his pen.”
Much obliged for listening, and remember, come Find Your West at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
