Maine Memory Network
Maine's Online Museum

Item 10035 enlarge zoom add to album

The picture is of the location of a lime deposit discovered east of Fort Fairfield. The area is also refered to as the Lovely Brook bog.

Originally discovered in 1893 by Olof Nylander, on August 15, 1925, the Caribou newspaper reported that Nylander had announced his discovery of a lime deposit that was considered to be of great potential benefit to local farmers because, at the time, much of the area's farm land was becoming too acidic for crops.

While farmers knew that spreading lime on their fields would alleviate the condition, the cost of shipping by rail was prohibitive. Discovery of the deposit was thought to be of great benefit to Aroostook farmers.

On September 16, 1925, the "Fort Fairfield Review" published a report quoting J. M. Bartlett, Chief Chemist of the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, Orono saying, "We find this material very fine, and nearly all passes through an 80 mesh sieve which makes it more valuable than the ordinary ground limestone which is on the market for agricultural purposes."