O SUCCESS SERIES=. By HORATIO ALGER, JR. 4 vols. 12mo. Cloth.

BOB BURTON.
THE STORE BOY.
LUKE WALTON.
STRUGGLING UPWARD.

=NEW WORLD SERIES=. By HORATIO ALGER, JR. 3 vols. 12mo. Cloth.

DIGGING FOR GOLD.
FACING THE WORLD.
IN A NEW WORLD.

=_Other Volumes in Preparation._=

* * * * *

COPYRIGHT BY A. K. LORING, 1879.

To
GENEVIEVE AND ANITA ALGER,
This Volume
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.

PREFACE.

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.

THE YOUNG MINER;

OR,

TOM NELSON IN CALIFORNIA.

CHAPTER I.

THE GOLD-SEEKERS.

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 doubtle