Utica, Montana

One of Utica's most famous local residents was the western painter C.M. Russell, who at the time was a young cowhand hired by a local rancher and gold miner named Jake Hoover. Russell stated that he learned most of his frontier skills from Hoover, and the two men remained lifelong friends. He featured Utica in the 1907 painting A Quiet Day In Utica, which was originally known as Tinning a Dog. Hoover; local businesswoman Millie Ringold, a former slave; store owner Charles Lehman and Russell himself are all depicted in the painting, seen standing between the hitching post and door of the general store. ==Demographics==