Stewart Edward White (12 March 1873 – September 18, 1946) was an American author. Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan he earned degrees from University of Michigan (B.A., 1895; M.A., 1903). From about 1900 until about 1922, he wrote fiction and non-fiction about adventure and travel, with an emphasis on natural history and outdoor living. Starting in 1922, he and his wife Elizabeth "Betty" Grant White wrote numerous books they claimed were received through channelling with spirits. They also wrote of their travels around the state of California. White died in Hillsborough, California. White's books were popular at a time when America was losing its vanishing wilderness. He was a keen observer of the beauties of nature and human nature, yet could render them in a plain-spoken style. Based on his own experience, whether writing camping journals or Westerns, he included pithy and fun details about cabin-building, canoeing, logging, gold-hunting, and guns and fishing and hunting. He salted in humor and sympathy for colorful characters such as canny Indian guides and "greenhorn" campers who carried too much gear. White also illustrated some of his books with his own photographs. Here's a sample passage from THE CABIN of 1911, the chapter "On Strangers". In 1927, the Boy Scouts of America made White an Honorary Scout, a new category of Scout created that same year. This distinction was give to "American citizens whose achievements in outdoor activity, exploration and worthwhile adventure are of such an exceptional character as to capture the imagination of boys...". The other eighteen who were awarded this distinction were: Roy Chapman Andrews; Robert Bartlett; Frederick Russell Burnham; Richard E. Byrd; George Kruck Cherrie; James L. Clark; Merian C. Cooper; Lincoln Ellsworth; Louis Agassiz Fuertes; George Bird Grinnell; Charles A. Lindbergh; Donald Baxter MacMillan; Clifford H. Pope; George P. Putnam; Kermit Roosevelt; Carl Rungius; Orville Wright. [1] Also Wrote: The Long Rifle (1930) Ranchero (1933) Folded Hills (1932) Stampede (1942) These 4 books comprise "The Saga of Andy Burnett," which follows a young Pennsylvania farm boy who escapes his overbearing step father by running away to the West. He leaves with his grandmother's blessing and "The Boone Gun", the original Kentucky rifle carried by Daniel Boone. He soon encounters a mountain man, Joe Crane, who undertakes the mentoring of Andy in the ways of survival in the wild. The remainder of the saga follows Andy as he moves west ultimately settling in California which is the setting of the last three books. This series would be considered historical fiction since it incorporates actual events and characters from the time period in the narrative. The four stories were published as a posthumous volume, The Saga of Andy Burnett, in 1947. This was adapted into several episodes of The Wonderful World of Disney during 1957 and 1958, starring Jerome Courtland as Andy Burnett and Jeff (Mike Fink) Yorke as his friend and mentor Joe Crane. This series was in many ways a follow-up to Disney's much more successful Davy Crockett.