Narrating the history of Michigan's forest industry, Karamanski provides a dynamic study of an important part of the Upper Peninsula's economy.

This is the story of a young buck who went in search of his father, whom he needed to help out in a family predicament. His journey turned out to be not as easy as he thought. but was one of great danger, excitement and adventure.

Carl Wade has absolutely no desire to follow in the farmer footsteps of his dad. He is determined to follow his own dream of becoming a wealthy fur trader. This means challenging parental authority to prove he can do it. With only his beloved dog and a few provisions, the 17-year-old sets out on an adventure that takes him through a series of encountersawith Indians, wild animals, boyhood afriends, a a 15-year-old girl (who inadvertently becomes his partner), and even a snake biteaall against the backdrop of a bitter winter in the Georgia frontier. Carlas determination to leave the comforts of home catapults him into shocking, real-life situations in the wild. In each amake or breaka circumstance of the trapping season, his parentsa high principles become his compass. The readeras emotions will run the gamut from delight to fear, as Carl is forced to meet lifeas realities head-on.

The bloodshed and hatred of frontier conflict at once made go-betweens obsolete and taught the harsh lesson of the woods: the final incompatibility of colonial and native dreams about the continent they shared. Long erased from history, the go-betweens of early America are recovered here in vivid detail.