This is the second book in The Pacific Series. It is about Tom Nelson's adventures in the California gold mines in an attempt to earn enough money to save his father's farm from being repossessed by the evil Squire Hudson. Tom accumulates and loses his nest egg more than once, but perseveres through honest, sound morals, and hard work. Included in this Illustrated, Annotated Edition of the 1894 version of "The Young Miner" is the original frontpiece, rejuvenated, and 10 additional, illustrations of mining in the West that are unique to this edition of the book, as well as an abbreviated biography and an annotated bibliography. Horatio Alger, Jr. (January 13, 1832 – July 18, 1899) was a prolific 19th-century American author, best known for his many formulaic juvenile novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty. His writings were characterized by the "rags-to-riches" narrative, which had a formative effect on America during the Gilded Age.