John Morison Copeland

John Morison Copeland was a Canadian author best known for The Trail of the Swinging Lanterns: A Racy, Railroading Review of Transportation Matters, Methods and Men, published in Toronto in 1918. Library and digitization records identify him as having lived from 1878 to 1953.

His surviving public profile is quite sparse, but his book has remained of interest because it mixes transportation history, industry character sketches, and an enthusiastic, readable tone. The work was published in Toronto by Addison & Mainprice, and the book itself gives a Toronto contact address for J. M. Copeland, suggesting a close personal connection to the city's railway and publishing circles.

Because so little reliable biographical material is readily available online, it is safest to describe him as a little-known Canadian writer whose reputation rests mainly on this vivid railroading volume. No suitable confirmed portrait image was found from the pages reviewed.