The River Prophet

Raymond S. Spears (1876-1950) was an author of western and adventure stories. He was born in Belleview, Ohio in 1876. He was the son of John R. Spears, a naval historian and Celestia Colette Smiley Spears, a teacher. Raymond was educated in Philadelphia. Raymond eventually moved to New York City to work as a reporter for the New York Sun. He worked there for five years before moving back to the countryside and doing free lance reporting. He took several cross-country trips and wrote about them in Forest and Stream. These trips provided the background information for many of his fiction and non-fiction writings. Raymond used up to eight pseudonyms for his writings, the most used of which was Jim Smiley. He was the president of the American Trappers' Association during the 1930s. Amongst his works are A Trip on the Great Lakes (1913) and The River Prophet (1918).