To the editor:
September 19 marked the 30th anniversary of my discovery of the Bald Mountain copper-zinc-gold deposit in Township 12, Range 8, Aroostook County. In 1988 I published a 298-page book, which described the innovative process employed in the discovery. However that is only half the story, or one side of the copper coin. The other side of the story deals with the sad train of events, which — for a period of more than 15 years — emanated from the site. Within the next year I hope to publish this story. There is a smoking gun. A few decades ago the gross value of contained metal at Bald Mountain was noted to be more than $1 billion. Today, however, that value is more than $6 billion, yet the deposit languishes beneath the rocky Aroostook terrain. In this regard, Bald Mountain is the most prominent of our ‘known’ lost treasures, but in light of today’s strong metal market, at least five other locations in Maine (and probably more) would be producing tens of millions of dollars per month were it not for what transpired many years ago.
In the early 1960s, as a Maine native, I looked to northern Maine and thought I could help bring some “dollars” to that land. At that time had I any conception of what would transpire as a result of that decision, I would have picked up my marbles and gone west.
John S. Cummings
Grand Prairie, Texas
