Born in New York City, Jim Kjelgaard spent most of his boyhood in the
Pennsylvania mountains where his father, a doctor, had a back-country
practice. For a time after he finished his schooling, young Jim clung to
vigorous open-air pursuits, becoming by turns a trapper, a teamster, a
surveyor, a guide. In his late twenties, however, he set out to make
writing his career. Since then hundreds of his short stories and
articles have appeared in national magazines, and he has written a
number of books for young people as well.
With his wife and teen-age daughter, Mr. Kjelgaard makes his home in
Phoenix, Arizona. But in his quest for stories he has travelled widely
and often throughout North America. The vivid reality of _The Lost
Wagon_, his first adult novel, grows out of his intimate, first-hand
knowledge of the American West.