Many immigrants risked their lives to come to America because they heard it was a "land of opportunity." Once they arrived, many of them found that opportunities were abundant, but required a lot of hard work and a strong belief in themselves in order to succeed. One of the many things they had to deal with was discrimination --- something they thought they had left behind in their old homelands.

Otto Peltonen is 16 years old when he leaves Finland headed for Minnesota. He is unprepared for the ugly squalor of the mining towns where many immigrants have settled to find work and make a new life. Their homes are barely shacks, the streets are mud, the working conditions in the mines unbearable. In 1905, mining companies are less concerned about the workers safety than with making a profit and many miners lost their lives from cave-ins, dangerous gases, and injuries from the heavy equipment. The worst part of working in the mines, is that all the equipment the workers need has to be purchased through the company, as well as clothing, food, and other items for their homes. And their wages depend upon the amount of ore they extract with the best locations in the mines often given to those who bribe a company supervisor. Most of what they earn in this dangerous work goes back to the "company store," as well. Like his father, Otto becomes angry at the contract labor system, and the open hostility shown for the Finnish people and other ethnic groups.

Otto's journal will give you a vivid picture of what life was like in these early 20th century mining towns. Despite the harsh conditions, many of these immigrants went on to make a good life in their new homeland. Find out what happens to Otto and his family, and learn something about the mining towns of that day from the resource material found in the back of the novel.