The Ancient Highway

James Oliver Curwood was an American author of action-adventure books and an environmentalist. He was born on June 12, 1878, and died on August 13, 1927. Publishers Weekly says that in the early and mid-1920s, his books were among the ten best-selling in the United States. Many of them were about experiences that took place in the Hudson Bay area, the Yukon, or Alaska. One movie was made in three different versions from 1919 to 1953, and at least 180 movies have been based on or directly influenced by his books and short stories. He was the best-paid author in the world (per word) at the time of his death. Curwood was born in Owosso, Michigan. He did well on the test to get into the University of Michigan and was able to start studying writing in the English department. He sold his first story while he was at the University of Michigan in 1898. In 1907, the Canadian government hired him to go to the farthest northern parts of the country and write and print accounts of his travels to promote tourism.