Gold forms in the heart of dying stars and as a result of their explosions, or novas, it is spread throughout the cosmos as one of the heavier elements. All the gold on earth no doubt came from such an explosion, just as all of the matter for all of the planets and the sun did, too. Maine does, in fact, have some gold in its ground, the first being struck in 1854 in Madrid and later, gold and silver were found in Acton, too. Gold can be found in deposits in the earth, but also dissolved in the waters of Earth’s oceans. Since 71 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, it might make sense that all one needs to do is find a cheap way to extract that gold from the water to make a fortune.  Maine is ideally situated for mining gold from water, if that was indeed possible, with its 3, 478 miles of coastline. But there is no method or invention to do the hard work of filtering out the gold. However, such a device was invented in 1897 and put into use in the small Maine town of Lubec. Why it worked and then, all of a sudden, didn’t work, is part of the strange history of New England. Lubec, Maine is the northeastern-most town in the United States. It is closer to Africa than any other location in the country.  With a population of 1,359 (2010 census), this community is situated on the very edge of things, snug next to Canada and only separated from it by the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bridge, which spans the Lubec Narrows and leads to Campbello Island. Change comes creeping slowly to this Washington County hamlet, but sometimes, something comes along that summons a whirlwind of alternation in circumstances and acts to bring such small places notoriety and fame. Lubec had its moment in 1897 and became host to Maine’s one and only Saltwater Gold Rush. To set the stage, one must remember that in 1897, science was beginning to take the main guiding role in the state of American life.  In May of 1893, the World’s Fair, known as the Colombian Exposition, opened in Chicago. Thomas Edison had just invented the first motion pictures and in 1895, the White House Christmas Tree was decorated with Edison’s own light bulbs. The world had telephones and electric fans, Kodak cameras and zippers. Even people in far flung places like Lubec knew of such inventions because of the ubiquitous newspapers that gave such places a daily connection with the world at large. Great faith was put in industry and the power that steam, oil and now electricity promised would means that even one such industry for a small town might mean prosperity for all. Lubec was a fishing and lumbering village and people there lived a hard existence.  It was into that setting in October of 1897 that a pair of men from Edgartown, Massachusetts arrived and set a plan into motion that would net them, in today’s money, over a million dollars and bring about financial disaster for investors throughout New England. It was a boom followed by the usual bust, but with a bit of wonder, too. Prescott Ford Jernegan, a Baptist minister, and his good friend Charles Fisher, rolled quietly into town one day and took up shop at an old grist mill at Mill Creek in North Lubec. The two had a business plan that, like most, required investors to open their pocketbooks and take a chance on what they assured people was a sure thing. We still have the prospectus for their enterprise, which they dubbed the Electrolytic Marine Salts Company, or EMS. Their claim was something that many people knew to be true – gold was in the water that flowed