Gawin Earl Douglass (1908-1998) was the only child of Earl Douglass, a paleontologist who made an outstanding discovery of dinosaur bones in the early 1900's. Gawin grew up, from the age of 18 months, in a tent camp, and later a log home, close to the site where his father made his discovery. The quarry, near Jensen, Utah, later was set aside as Dinosaur National Monument. Because his formative years were spent so close to nature, Gawin developed a deep love of the out-of-doors and always enjoyed camping, hiking, hunting and fishing. He also taught these same values to his own children, two daughters, by example.
Gawin was self-taught on several subjects and of necessity, in order to support his mother and family, he became a mining engineer. After his retirement from a California gold-dredging company in 1960, he began to go through his father's diaries and wrote this book. The diaries and writings of Earl Douglass are cited extensively throughout and are the basis for his text