Boy with a Pack
Boy with a Pack is a children's historical novel by Stephen W. Meader. Set in 1837, it follows the journey of 17-year-old trader Bill Crawford as he travels from New Hampshire to the Ohio Country. Carrying a trunkload of supplies on his back, he is soon joined by Jody, a dog he frees from a trap in Vermont. In New York, he works as a mule driver on the Erie Canal towing a boat. He meets Mary Ann Bennett on the boat; Mary is also traveling to Ohio to start a new life. In Ohio, Bill helps the Underground Railroad smuggle a young boy to freedom. Bill decides to settle down near a grist mill in need of workers.