Bill Gollings was born in Idaho Territory in the little mining camp of Pierce City in 1878. His mother died when he was quite small and the four little boys were raised by their grandmother on a farm in Michigan. They returned to Idaho in 1886. The family returned to Chicago where Bill was educated and worked at various jobs.

In 1896 Bill Gollings and a pal headed back west working on various cattle operations, among them the famous old Turkey Track outfit. About the 15th of April, 1899, he turned his pony loose at a ranch on Rosebud Creek near the Yellowstone River. In the early Spring of 1903, Bill sent to Montgomery Ward and Company for some oil colors and other equipment to paint with. Bill later remembered, "When the snow went off I made a few crude attempts at picture making. The people on the ranch thought them were wonderful."

Bill Gollings, as a working cowboy, produced hundreds of pen and ink drawings, many of them used as Christmas card grettings which were widely distributed around Billings and Sheridan, Wyoming. "Paint Bill", as he was sometimes called, labored as an artist from 1903 to 1932. When he died his small studio in Sheridan, Wyoming held approximately 182 oil painting, both finished and unfinished, along with a multitude of etchings. Gollings works are rare and generally not for sale, because those who own them cherish them not for subject matter alone, but almost always because of a close personal tie with the artist himself still even today.

E.W. Gollings died following a heart attack in mid April, 1932. He had been ill less than two weeks and death came suddenly. He was fifty-two years old.

Thus this talented man, who seemed to wish anonymity, died alone. He was recognized and loved by the small coterie of admirers, mostly in his home area, but his talent and worth has finally emerged far and wide, not because he willed it himself, but because his honest art has spoken so eloquently for him.