Born in Germany, Bierstadt was raised in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He returned to Germany in 1853 to study at Dusseldorf where he refined his considerable technical abilities painting Alpine landscapes. After returning to New Bedford in 1857, Bierstadt sought fresh inspiration and elected to join an expedition surveying new overland routes to the Pacific which departed from St. Joseph, Missouri in 1859. Bierstadt was captivated by the breathtaking beauty of the pristine Western landscape and wrote: "...the wildness and abandon of nature here is...