North to Iron Country

North to Iron Country by Janie Lynn Panagopoulos. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780938682486.

As Robert Pacquette interviews an old iron miner for his history report, he is swept back into the life of Robert Friggens, a boy from Albany, New York who travels to Michigans Upper Peninsula in the mid-1800s. The son of one of the first doctors in the area, Robert meets a variety of colorful characters including Michael Shane, a rough but likable ex-miner. Michael takes Robert with him by dogsled to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where they collect the mail for the mining settlement at Marquette. When Michael is injured and his replacement never arrives, Robert must travel alone on the wilderness trail back to Marquette. To add to his trouble, he is pursued by a thief. And who is that mysterious Indian? Is he a friend or an enemy?