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Hal Evarts, an American writer, was born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1887. After two years of high school in Topeka, he left school and headed to the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), where he worked as a surveyor. He found he enjoyed life outdoors. Evarts traveled extensively across the West, spending time in Wyoming and working as a rancher, trapper, back-country hunting guide, and breeder of fur-bearing animals for their pelts. He became a recognized authority on hunting and trapping. In middle age, he served as the outdoors editor for The Saturday Evening Post, focusing on hunting articles. During World War I, he joined the army and earned a lieutenant's commission, but the war ended before he was deployed overseas.
His novels are filled with stories of hunting, exploration, adventure, Indian conflicts, and themes close to his interests. His best-known novel, Tumbleweeds, about the famous Oklahoma Land Rush, was adapted into a classic western film, Tumbleweeds (1925), starring William S. Hart. Another novel, The Big Trail, was made into the 1930 film The Big Trail, notable as one of the first movies shot in 70mm and as John Wayne's first talking picture.
Evarts had a long-standing heart condition and, in 1934, took a cruise to South America to improve his health. He died of a heart attack on October 18, 1934, aboard a ship just outside Rio de Janeiro harbor in Brazil.
