This story
of the Imperial Valley and its reclamation was written in the same study
as was "The Calling of Dan Matthews." A study of rude construction,
about eighteen by thirty-five feet, with thatched roof and outside
covering of native arrow-weed and built entirely by the author himself.
When Mr. Wright finished "The Winning of Barbara Worth"--so named in
honor of Ruth Barbara Reynolds--he was a sick man. He often worked the
night through, overtaxing his nerve and strength. For several months he
virtually dwelt within the four walls of his study and for a time it was
feared he would not live to finish the book. He wrote the last chapters
while confined to his bed, after which he was taken by easy stages,
through the kindness of friends, to that part of Northern Arizona that
is so delightful to all lovers of the out-of-doors. In this bracing
mile-high atmosphere he soon grew well and strong, almost to ruggedness,
and on the day his book was published he was riding in a wild-horse
chase over a country wild and rough where the writer of this sketch
would only care to go, carefully picking his way, on foot. So it was
weeks after publication before the author saw the first bound copy
of his book. During these summer and fall months, while regaining his
strength, he was busy with sketch and note book collecting material, for
this part of Arizona is the scene of his novel "When a Man's a Man.
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