Rum Runners & Bootleggers
When prohibition came into effect, in Saskatchewan on July 1,1915,
whiskey was being made by those who understood the art and mainly
for their own use. These private-enterprise people were refered to
as "moonshiners" as their operations required the midnight hours
for success.
It was about this time that thirsty American began to inquire
anout this Canadian product called moonshine, home brew, or
hooch.
The Rum Runners were the people who delivered the booze.
They were usually younger men with plenty of nerve. The operation
became so well organized that their success was really an embarassment
to the law.
Communications was important in making the delivery. The load was usually
dumped at the border and picked up by some person from the U.S.A.
Even after prohibition ended, moonshine was enjoyed at local dances and
other social gatherings. A bootlegger was quite easy to spot at local
dances as he usually stood by himself by the door. Sometimes he wore a large coat
that could conseal several bottles. Usually a transaction took place outside
the door or around the corner.
Some of the Rum Runners' convoys consisted of a lead or scout car followed
by a large straight eight car, usually a Packard or Buick hauling cargo.
Bringing up the rear, some 2 or 3 hundred yards behind, was a heavily armed
vehicle which sometimes carried a machine gun.
Liquor was also smuggled across the border in loads of grain, hay, straw and
coal. The railway was often used. Boxcars from Sasktchewan to the United States
carried many gallons of liquor.
A gallon of good moonshine sold for $8 cash. Home brew was hidden in every place
imaginable: Chop bins, rock piles, manure piles.
Home brew was also sold over the counter marked as "Poison" to disquise the contents.