The Young Miner; Or, Tom Nelson in California

AUTHOR OF “RAGGED DICK,” “TATTERED TOM,” “LUCK AND PLUCK,” “BRAVE AND BOLD” SERIES, ETC., ETC.
PHILADELPHIA:
HENRY T. COATES & CO.

Other Volumes in Preparation .
Copyright by A. K. Loring, 1879.
To Genevieve and Anita Alger, This Volume IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.
When The Young Adventurer was published, a year since, as the initial volume of The Pacific Series, it was announced that the second volume would be The Young Pioneer. This has been changed to The Young Miner, in order to avoid confusion with a book bearing a title somewhat similar to the one first proposed.
Those who were interested in Tom Nelson's trip across the Plains will find in the present story a record of his adventures in the Land of Gold. Though his prosperity was chiefly due to his own energy and industry, it is also true that he was exceptionally lucky. Yet his good fortune has been far exceeded by that of numerous adventurous spirits in Colorado, within the last twelve months. Some measure of prosperity generally awaits the patient and energetic worker, and seldom comes to those who idly wait for something to turn up.
New York, Oct. 1, 1879.
A dozen men, provided with rockers, were busily engaged in gathering and washing dirt, mingled with gold-dust, on the banks of a small stream in California. It was in the early days, and this party was but one of hundreds who were scattered over the new Eldorado, seeking for the shining metal which throughout the civilized world exercises a sway potent and irresistible.
I have said there were a dozen men, but this is a mistake. One of the party was a well-grown boy of sixteen, with a good-humored and even handsome face. He was something more than good-humored, however. There was an expression on his face which spoke of strength and resolution and patient endurance. The readers of The Young Adventurer will at once recognize in our young hero Tom Nelson, the oldest son of a poor New England farmer, who, finding no prospects at home, had joined the tide of emigrants pouring from all parts of the country to the land of which so many marvelous stories were told. Tom had come to work; and though he doubtless shared to some extent the extravagant anticipations of the great body of Eastern visitors who hoped to make a fortune in a year, he did not expect to succeed without hard toil.