In the 1930s, a once-booming mining town called Jedway on the Canadian island of Moresby fell on hard times and quickly became a ghost town. Into this unfortunate situation came an eccentric, wealthy man named Baron Louis von Rothschild. This businessman claimed to be a part of the old, wealthy European Jewish banking family. It is not known whether he was actually a Rothschild or just a con man using the name for influence and clout.
Whoever he was, this Baron bought up all the land that was the old mining town of Jedway. This eccentric’s plan was to create a self-sustaining utopian town that he would rule over. His first idea was to make the town and the island food self-sufficient, and so he decided that potatoes were the answer. He then gathered all the few remaining settlers, loggers, and fishermen, and imposed the Potato Mandate on them.
In this mandate, he banned the growing of all other vegetables and hired a private militia to patrol all the island’s residents’ gardens to make sure they weren’t smuggling in outside crops. As part of the mandate, he also established his own barter system backed up by potato yields. For years, the locals tolerated Rothschild because he paid well in cash and gold for all labor he assigned to them.
By the 1950s, it seemed the jig was up for his paranoia got the best of him when he started sending his militia after nearby fishing boats, and even harassing Canadian government land surveyors. The Canadian government then stepped in, invaded the island, and forced the Baron out, and soon the town became abandoned and swallowed back up by nature.