Jonathan Goes West — Stephen W. Meader

Here is America in the days when railroads were still a fearsome adventure and steamboats were racing each other to make new records, as seen by sixteen-year-old Jonathan. To join his father, he traveled from Maine to Illinois by schooner, rail, steamboat, on foot, and in a bookseller's caravan. As he went further west, Jonathan found the countryside troubled by a daring highwayman. The more he heard about him, the more Jonathan was convinced it was the same man who had robbed him in New York. Courage and quick wits carried Jonathan through many a dangerous moment.