The Spoilers (Esprios Classics)

Rex Ellingwood Beach (September 1 1877 - December 7 1949) was an American novelist playwright and Olympic water polo player. He was born in Atwood Michigan but moved to Tampa Florida with his family where his father was growing fruit trees. Beach was educated at Rollins College Florida (1891-1896) the Chicago College of Law (1896-97) and Kent College of Law Chicago (1899-1900). In 1900 he was drawn to Alaska at the time of the Klondike Gold Rush. After five years of unsuccessful prospecting he turned to writing. His second novel The Spoilers (1906) was based on a true story of corrupt government officials stealing gold mines from prospectors which he witnessed while he was prospecting in Nome Alaska. The Spoilers became one of the best selling novels of 1906.