James Oliver Curwood, Disciple of the Wilds

by Hobart Donald Swiggett

J.C. WEBER

Spring was at last upon them, and the buds were beginning to pop out on the trees. Green patches of grass were beginning to show here and there. Bushes were already taking on their various colors and some of the animals and creatures of the natural and untouched country had come out of hibernation.

Towards the close of spring Jim and Ethel returned to Owosso. Here Jim definitely established himself at home. He built a large, fine house, a brick structure of two stories. This house still stands. Surrounding it on all four sides is a large and spacious yard that extends for many yards around the mansion. Thousands of dollars went into its construction and today the house remains as it was years ago, except that its beauty has increased.

Jim Curwood did not remain in Owosso as long as he had expected. For he now had the money to travel to and from his beloved wilderness at his own choosing. Jim went back into the forests and wilds at least once a year, often spending five to six months at a time. Usually Mrs. Curwood accompanied him, but on a few of his exploration and writing trips, she did not go. Each year when he returned to upper Canada, he went back with all the happiness and love one man can possibly have for any one particular spot.

Perhaps there is one basic reason why Jim built the fine home in Owosso just where he did. It has been established that on the spot where his home is located, one of the large camps of the Chippawayan Indians once stood.

In 1909 Ethel Greenwood Curwood bore her first child for Jim, a son. The youngster was named James Oliver Curwood II. With the arrival of his baby son, Jim Curwood became the proudest father in the entire city of Owosso. For now he had a son to carry on his name, a son who would prove himself a great man and who would follow in his father’s footsteps. James Oliver Curwood II was the only child Mrs. Curwood bore.

As soon as the baby had grown somewhat the family began to spend a great many months far from civilization in the timber country. The two girls and the baby boy were growing quite rapidly and becoming very healthy by their constant play and travel in the fresh, cool air.

Ethel and the children grew to love the strange and unusual people, the “Nomads of the North” who were their only friends away from civilization. Of course Jim had loved them for many years, but he wanted his wife and their offspring to regard them in much the same manner as he did.