Prohibition era politics — ‘Mecca for the wets’

Here’s an example of cross-border tourism nearly a century ago.

An unnamed North Country politician brought news to a state Republican Committee meeting in New York City of an “oasis for dry throats” being readied on an island in the St. Lawrence River, just north of the Canadian border.

“The island, which will be the nearest ‘mecca for the wets’ from Broadway and Forty-second Street , has been acquired by a group of men ‘particular about what they drink,’ it was explained, and will be ready for a rush of visitors in early spring,” The Post-Star of Glens Falls, N.Y. reported on Jan. 10, 1920.