Prohibition in the North Country — Chasing through the snow

The latest in an occasional series of posts.

International News Service in 1925 produced a motion picture newsreel of state troopers in the North Country chasing whiskey smugglers through forests just south of the Canadian border.

Whether riding horse back or utilizing fuel-dependent horsepower, the “Gray Riders” mounted force of State Police Troop B at Malone was certain to catch the bootlegger — at least in those scenes that made it to the final cut.

“One section of the picture will show troopers pursuing an automotive snow mobile,” the Essex County Republican reported on March 25, 1925. “This means of smuggling intoxicants was recently suggested and it is said to have received some consideration from the smuggling rings, but the picture will show how easy its capture by troopers would be.”

Another segment showed the Gray Riders, so named for their gray State Police uniforms, riding horses.

“They were shown traveling on horseback, their mounts breaking through snow drifts of eighteen and twelve feet deep.”

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