More than a decade ago, Maine’s governor, Angus King commissioned an economic study which determined that New England’s largest state was actually two distinct, economic regions: the affluent southeastern coast, and the struggling, northern forests. Through the years, Aroostook County had been dealt a hat trick of economic setbacks: first, the emergence of Idaho as the nation’s premier source of potatoes, second, Quebec’s ability to process timber products more economically than Maine, and more recently,...