Desperate Stand does not depict any particular battle but was a typical cowboys-and-Indians story that Russell imagined, probably because action portraits like this were popular.
Click image for a larger view.
In contrast to the action on the menu cover, the interiors of the menus were each decorated with a wildflower painting. These paintings also appeared in the spaces between the windows of the dining cars. The painting included in the Desperate Stand menu showed Indian paintbrush and mariposa lilies.
There is obviously a signature on the painting, but I can’t make it out and haven’t found any references to who did paintings for Pullman-built cars. Click image to download a 1.7-MB PDF of this menu.
Dated 1957, this particular menu is, like the 1956 one, a dinner menu. This one features a $3.00 ($24 in today’s money) “Western Star Special” consisting of “corn feed choice beef top butt steak–broiled onion” with salad, potatoes, biscuits, beverage, and dessert. Other table d’hôte selections include prime rib ($3.25); milk-fed spring chicken ($2.95); Minnesota walleyed pike ($2.95); and mushroom omelet with sausage pattie ($2.75). A la carte items include hamburgers, tuna fish salad on toast, and other sandwiches.