author
James R. Mears
Best known for brisk, action-filled adventure stories for young readers, this early 20th-century writer published the Iron Boys books under the name James R. Mears. The stories tap into the excitement of mines, steel mills, and ore boats, turning industrial America into a backdrop for fast-moving fiction.
4 Audiobooks
The Iron Boys on the Ore Boats; or, Roughing It on the Great Lakes
by James R. Mears
The Iron Boys in the Steel Mills; or, Beginning Anew in the Cinder Pits
by James R. Mears
The Iron Boys in the Mines; or, Starting at the Bottom of the Shaft
by James R. Mears
The Iron Boys as Foremen; or, Heading the Diamond Drill Shift
by James R. Mears
About the author
James R. Mears appears to have been a pseudonym used by Frank Gee Patchin for the Iron Boys series. Sources connected with the series identify that pen name directly, while Patchin is separately described as a prolific American writer of children's adventure fiction.
Patchin was born in 1861 in Wayland, New York, and died in 1925. He wrote more than 200 books, often for young readers, and is especially remembered for popular series fiction such as the Battleship Boys and Pony Rider Boys books.
The James R. Mears name is attached to industrial adventures including The Iron Boys in the Mines, The Iron Boys as Foremen, The Iron Boys on the Ore Boats, and The Iron Boys in the Steel Mills. Those novels fit neatly with Patchin's larger body of work: energetic, practical, and built around boys learning their way through demanding worlds.