The Globe - Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties

By JASON JUNO

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Hurley senior Eli Talsma eats lunch daily with 8-year-old Nante Niemi and he’s gone sledding and tubing with him in the winter.

So when the search party Talsma joined closed in on the missing Hurley second grader Monday afternoon in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, Niemi recognized him.

“When we were running up to him, he was like ‘Eli,’” Talsma said. “That was pretty emotional.”

Niemi went missing Saturday afternoon while camping with family. Forty-eight hours later, a private search party found Niemi about 2 miles from hi...