Prohibition in the North Country — Bootleggers keeping quiet

The latest in an occasional series of posts

“Those in a position to know” suggested that there was considerably less alcohol being smuggled across the Canadian border and transported south along the “Great International Highway,” the road designated five years later as Route 9, in the summer of 1921.

“Whether they have made their fortune and quit the game can only be surmised,” The Post-Star reported on Aug. 23, 1921.

Another logical conclusion was that bootleggers were doing less bragging.

“A year or two ago, many men who were running booze felt so well pleased with the ability to get loads through safely that they told others about it,” The Post-Star reported. “All this has changed, however, and if these same men are still in business, they are careful not to talk about it.”

Some smugglers had switched from whiskey to beer, which could easily be purchased in Canada for 25 cents a bottle and re-sold in New York for a substantial profit.

“In Glens Falls it sells for $1 a bottle, but in Saratoga Springs it is said it brings more than that.”

Click here to read the most recent previous post in the series.