One day, as he was hard at work, a fellow employee told Jim that there was a man living very near the company who claimed to be a baron, a man whose ancestry dated back several hundred years in the old country. Jim later found out that this man was actually working right there in the factory, as a common laborer. In those days it was great news to find one of noble heritage, let alone one who worked at common labor. So, Jim promptly made it a point to see and talk to the man, gain his well wishes and get his permission to have a story concerning him published. Jim carefully gathered the material he needed and at once wrote it up and mailed it to the Detroit News-Tribune.
Being quite capable of seeing far enough in front of their noses, the editors of the paper not only bought the story but put Jim back on the payroll. This time, however, it was on a much more important job, for Jim was made a special writer on the Sunday edition of the News-Tribune at a salary of $18.00 every week.
Besides the promotion, Jim now had his own private office, tastefully furnished, on the second floor of the older section of the building. Jim plunged joyfully into his new assignments. This was not a job for him; it was a labor of love.
In a comparatively short time Jim was turning out one and two-page features that were promptly published. He was now working seven days each week and many times he even worked late into the night.
Time was passing rather rapidly for Jim now and inside of two years after returning to the News-Tribune, his salary had been increased to $25.00. It was during this time that the first of Jim’s two daughters was born and there was not to be found a happier man on the face of the earth than James Oliver Curwood. He had a fine wife, he loved the work which he was doing, and he actually possessed a wonderful baby daughter named Carlotta.
Many things were now entering into Jim Curwood’s life and his writing output was also bothering him considerably. He was striving to do more than he had been doing in the past, but just how he was going to go about this he did not know. His time was more than just rationed and he had to use it sparingly.
Jim at last decided that he would do away with all of his pleasure-filled hours and devote what time he could at the office as well as those out of the office to purely creative work and nothing else. He would, furthermore, branch out farther and with more scope than he had ever imagined. So he began a series of slick-paper magazine stories and immediately sold the first one, “The Captain of the Christopher Duggan,” to the Munsey magazine. He was paid $75.00 for this story, the most he had ever received for any story before. Jim Curwood now thought seriously of quitting his newspaper work and devoting himself exclusively to his literary efforts. But when the News-Tribune raised his salary to $28.00, he decided to forego his dreams until a more propitious time. This decision probably saved the genius of James Oliver Curwood from certain disaster. For as yet he was not fully prepared to enter the great field of literature entirely upon his own, even though he did not realize it then.
At the News-Tribune Jim was under the constant tutelage of Annesley Burrowes, who saw to it that the young writer’s burning spark was never extinguished and that his imagination was always afire with creative efforts. Burrowes believed strongly in young James Curwood’s chances of rising to truly great heights in the field of newspaper writing and in the fictional world. Time has shown that Mr. Burrowes’ intuition was correct and accurate.
Shortly after Jim received his raise in salary, Mr. Burrowes resigned his post at the News-Tribune, due to an eye ailment, and with his going Jim took his place. He now was getting $30.
“I am sure that I only partly filled the position.”