James Oliver Curwood was an American action-adventure writer and conservationist. His books were often based on adventures set in the Hudson Bay area, the Yukon or Alaska and ranked among the top-ten best sellers in the United States in the early and mid 1920s, according to Publishers Weekly. At least one hundred and eighty motion pictures have been based on or directly inspired by his novels and short stories; one was produced in three versions from 1919 to 1953. At the time of his death, Curwood was the highest paid author in the world.

Owosso is the largest city in Shiawassee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 14,714 at the 2020 census. The city is mostly surrounded by Owosso Township on its west, but the two are administered autonomously. The city was named after Chief Wosso, an Ojibwe leader of the Shiawassee area.