Lewis at Black Eagle Falls

This monumental painting in the Montana State Capitol depicts Meriwether Lewis’s discovery of the Great Falls of the Missouri on June 13, 1805. Lewis wrote that the falls were “the grandest sight I ever beheld” and attempted to sketch them, hoping a skilled artist could later capture their majesty. Paxson painted this work alongside his “Lewis and Clark at Three Forks” mural, both commissioned for the State Capitol.