Hulbert Footner (1879 1944) was a Canadian writer of non-fiction and detective fiction. His first published works were travelogues of canoe trips on the Hudson River and in the Northwest Territory along the Peace River, Hay River and Fraser River. He also wrote a series of northwest adventures during the period 1911 through 1920. That is why the novel Jack Chanty is based on his canoe adventures in the great northwest. Also, Footner wrote several other adventure books set in the Canadian northwest after he had relocated to Maryland in 1913.