In all of Curwood’s stories he portrayed great souls and strong men who wage their battles of life, death and love in the open spaces. There is little wonder why he had the great and loyal following that he at one time possessed and still retains today. He was truly a master in his particular field.
The sales on “The Valley of Silent Men” grew into much larger numbers than the book, “The River’s End,” as far as advance sales were concerned. The totals on the advance sale of “The Valley of Silent Men” were 105,000 copies, and “The River’s End” ran up to 100,000. These two stirring dramas of the Canadian Northwest alone brought out the true genius of James Oliver Curwood. At long last the world was beginning to sit up and take notice. The flowering genius of Jim Curwood was at last beginning to bloom. Owosso townspeople were claiming him now more than ever before as their native son. Not only they, but thousands upon thousands of others were hailing James Oliver Curwood as the greatest writer to appear on the literary horizon since the days of Charles Dickens and Anton Tchekov.
Shortly following the release of “The Valley of Silent Men,” Jim again headed into the land of tall timber. During this stay in the backwoods Jim worked on various jobs. He did a share of sledge driving for he delighted in seeing the wonderful huskies and malamutes of the big snows work. He also studied at great length the characters of the people of the far North.
Six months later Jim returned to his home town and with him came a series of short stories that he had written during his stay in the beautiful northwest. These were now edited and compiled into the volume of short stories published by the Cosmopolitan Book Corporation under the title of “Back to God’s Country.” This was in 1920.
Many of the stories which appeared in this collection were actually lived and experienced by Jim Curwood in those six months back in the “far-reaches.” Among them were: “The Mouse,” “Peter God,” “The Honor of Her People,” “The Strength of Men,” and “His First Penitent.” “The Honor of the Big Snows,” Jim’s novel of little Melesse and Jan, originated from the short story, “The Honor of Her People.” Many of these stories appeared in such publications as Good Housekeeping, Outing, American Magazine, and many others.
The title story, “Back to God’s Country,” was later filmed and made into a great motion picture. With the arrival of this collection of short stories on the market, it was immediately hailed and heralded as one of the finest collections of short stories of its type ever published.
In 1921, sixteen years after Jim Curwood started out on his prolific writing career, came still two more exciting and well-written novels of rugged adventure: “The Golden Snare” and “The Flaming Forest.” The latter was praised highly for it was a magnificent story, a story so well told that it sold nearly 100,000 copies before it was actually released, thus nearly putting it on an equal with “The Valley of Silent Men” and “The River’s End.”
“Teddy” Roosevelt praised “The Flaming Forest” with these words:
“I have read with great interest Mr. Curwood’s book, ‘The Flaming Forest.’ It is excellent. It is good, clean adventure in the open spaces.”
“The Flaming Forest” was the third and last of Jim’s tense novels about the Three River Country. The first two had sold better than 100,000 copies in the advance sale. This would have been flattery to the majority of authors, but to Jim Curwood, who lived in the vivid and exciting northwoods life of which he wrote, it was just a fighting challenge.