Measuring 72 by 120+1⁄8 inches (183 by 305 cm), the painting is a centerpiece of the 19th-century landscape collection at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902) immigrated from Germany to New Bedford, Massachusetts, as an infant.

After the gold rush to California, Bierstadt was part of an 1859 survey expedition, led by Frederick W. Lander, to scout a route for a railroad across the Rockies.

Sponsored by the Union Pacific Railroad, over the next decade, he made several more such trips during which he painted scenes of California with the goal of attracting visitors and investors to the region.

[10] In 1873, Among the Sierra Nevada was acquired by William Brown Dinsmore (1810–1888),[11][12] a businessman who wanted it for his country villa Locusts on Hudson in Dutchess County, New York.

William Truettner, a curator for the Smithsonian, was sent to Hull's house to retrieve the painting and also found the original ornate gilded frame—in four pieces but in good condition—in a barn on the property.