"ROBERT WILLIAM SERVICE (1874 – 1958) was a poet and writer who has often been called "the Bard of the Yukon". Service is best known for his poems "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee", from his first book, Songs of a Sourdough (1907; also published as The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses). "These humorous tales in verse were considered doggerel by the literary set, yet remain extremely popular to this day."[3] Songs of a Sourdough has sold more than three million copies, making it the most commercially successful book of poetry of the 20th century" -- Wikipeda