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Produced for what looked like pennies at Cathedral Mountain and Big Bend, Texas, by low-budget entrepreneur J. Charles Davis, West of the Rockies was launched as a silent Art Mix western. Davis, however, also released a sound version, ballyhooing the event as "The best, most magnificent 100% All Talking Western ever made." In fact, the sound version only incorporated a couple of badly dubbed dialogue sequences and some canned music cues and let it go at that. The Art Mix persona had been invented by producer-director Victor Adamson (AKA Denver Dixon) back in the late 1910s in an all-too-obvious attempt to make his audience think they were watching Tom Mix. Anticipating a law suit, Adamson dug up an Arthur Mix in the Los Angeles telephone book and made him an officer of his production company. Adamson himself appeared under the Mix moniker in the earliest years, but production duties soon took up too much of his time and he hired rodeo performer George Kesterson to act the part. They had a falling out in 1925, and Adamson offered the part to one Bob Roberts. Roberts, unfortunately, left after suffering an injury while filming in Topanga Canyon, and Adamson resumed playing Art Mix himself. Kesterson, meanwhile, continued to use the name, despite threats from Adamson, and by the late 1920s there were actually two Art Mixes appearing in films. The Art Mix of this obscure oater was George Kesterson. Actress Inez Gomez was Kesterson's wife.