The Gold Hunters: A Story of Life and Adventure in the Hudson Bay Wilds by James Oliver Curwood. James Oliver "Jim" Curwood, June 12, 1878 - August 13, 1927, was an American action-adventure writer and conservationist. His books ranked among Publishers Weekly top-ten best sellers in the United States in the early 1920s. At least eighteen motion pictures have been based on or directly inspired by his novels and short stories. At the time of his death, he was the highest paid (per word) author in the world. His writing studio, Curwood Castle, is now a museum in Owosso, Michigan. Curwood's adventure writing followed in the tradition of Jack London. Like London, Curwood set many of his works in the wilds of the Great Northwest and often used animals as lead characters (Kazan; Baree, Son of Kazan, The Grizzly King and Nomads of the North). Many of Curwood's adventure novels also feature romance as primary or secondary plot consideration.