THE YOUNG EXPLORER by Horatio Alger 

Among the Sierras 

ILLUSTRATED -   Ben Stanton goes to California to search for gold and befriends a Chinese immigrant. Aka: Claiming His Fortune, Ben Stanton the Explorer. In the Pacific Series.  Ben Stanton inherits an estate when his father dies, but finds few opportunities for work in the small town where he lives. Seeing an ad for young workers in New York City, he decides to go to New York. He learns that the ad is a scam and chooses to head for the gold fields of California.  As he is inquiring about boat passage, he meets Ida Sinclair, a wealthy young woman, who is running away from an unscrupulous guardian. Ida is intent on going to California to locate the man whom she loves, Richard Dewey and hires Ben as her companion. In San Francisco, Ben meets a miner, Jake Bradley, who had known Dewey at Murphy's Camp, a mining location. Ben and Jake go, hoping to contact Dewey and realize some of the Gold Rush’s profits.

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