The Journal of Otto Peltonen: A Finnish Immigrant

Author: William Durbin

In 1905, fifteen-year-old Otto, his mother and two younger sisters, leave Finland to join his father who's laboring as a miner in Hibbing, Minnesota. The poor family suffers through an miserable voyage only to land in a squalid mining camp where Otto's father faces mortal danger six days a week below ground. Otto eventually joins his dad in the mines as the family scrimps and saves to buy a farm. The harsh life, fueled by corruption and corporate callousness, gave rise to the organized labor movement that eventually unionized the U.S. mining industry. Author William Durbin, a high school English teacher in Hibbing, recreates the dismal world that many of the 250,000 Finnish immigrants faced a hundred years ago in order to get a foothold in the American dream.

The Journal of Otto Peltonen-A Finnish Immigrant

Year Released: 2000

Grades 4-8