The legend of the Lost Lemon Mine is one of the most enduring unsolved mysteries of the Canadian West. In 1870, so the story goes, two prospectors named Lemon and Blackjack found gold in the rugged mountains of southwestern Alberta or southeastern British Columbia. Shortly after, Blackjack died at Lemon’s hand. The distraught Lemon left the scene of the murder and never recovered his senses—or his gold. Despite exhaustive searches by treasure seekers and historians, the mine has never been located.

In The Lost Lemon Mine, Ron Stewart revisits this intriguing story and attempts to answer the tantalizing questions posed by the often conflicting evidence.

• Who was Lemon?
• Where was the mine?
• Did Lemon and Blackjack steal the gold and invent a fictitious mine to cover their tracks?

Stewart has meticulously researched the many versions of the story in order to separate folklore from fact, challenging readers to reach their own conclusions.

Ron Stewart has written several books on historical and geological topics. A native of Alberta, he worked for 15 years with the University of Alberta's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences before becoming a consultant. His career has involved a series of exploits, including jumping out of helicopters in remote areas of northern BC; diving to a Spanish wreck off the coast of Florida; and encountering bears in the Yukon, mountain lions in the Blue Ridge Mountains and black widow spiders and copperhead snakes in North Carolina.

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