Prohibition Leads to ‘Shine in Sheridan

The tools of the moonshiner trade. (Display at the Hot Springs County Museum in Thermopolis, Wyoming)

In a Sheridan Post-Enterprise, newspaper on February 20, 1925, it tells of a raid on a moonshine plant along Mead Creek, southeast of Sheridan. The dugout was cleverly concealed along the creek bank, but the federal, state and county agents destroyed the entire plant. Although the owner of the still moved out and took his still, burner and a gas pressure tank., the officers found 750 gallons of mash and a 50 gallon barrel half full of whiskey. Also found on the property were sacks of corn sugar and gasoline.

Moonshine raids in Sheridan, Wyoming? Seems more like something one would hear about in Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina or other Appalachian areas. Both Georgia’s Dawson County and North Carolina’s Wilkes County claim the title of “Moonshine Capital of the World.” However, during the prohibition era, from 1920 to 1933, there was a lot of moonshine making throughout northeastern Wyoming.

The Sheridan Enterprise on January 16, 1919 had this article, Prohibition Ratified in Record Time Wyoming Legislature Rushes Bill Ratifying National Prohibition and Wins Carey’s Signature Within One Hour of Start CHEYENNE, Wyo., Jan. 16.— One hour after a joint resolution ratifying the federal prohibition constitutional amendment had been introduced in the Wyoming legislature this morning, it had been passed by both houses and was before Governor Carey for approval. The governor immediately signed the measure. Wyoming was the thirty-seventh state to ratify the amendment, Nebraska, the last of the essential states, having ratified at about the time the Wyoming legislature began consideration of it this morning. The measure of ratification — Senate Joint Resolution No. 1 was the first bill introduced at this session of the legislatureit was presented in the senate by Senator Archie Allison of Laramie county and 20 minutes later had been passed by the upper house It reached the lower house at 11:10 o’clock and in the chamber exactly 13 minutes were consumed in putting it through. The first bill introduced in the lower house is a measure to make operative the state constitutional prohibition amendment adopted last November and effective January 1, 1920. Both house of the legislature will adjourn next Tuesday for at least two days to permit the legislators to attend the stock show in Denver. The prohibition amendment was ratified unanimously and Wyoming goes on record as being the second state to ratify the amendment without a dissenting vote, North Dakota being the first.

An article in the same paper states: Nebraska’s Legislature Puts Nation Dry While Wyoming Clinches Deal. 38 States Ratify Measure With Only 36 Required And Prohibition Will Be Effective One Year From Now; Brewers To Force Vote On Issue: CHICAGO. Jan. 16. The United States today completed the legislative process of voting itself dry. When word was flashed over the wires that the thirty-sixth state, Nebraska, had ratified the prohibition amendment, prohibition leaders declared the accomplishment was the greatest piece of moral legislation in history. The amendment to the constitution prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating beverages becomes effective one year from the date of final ratification. Meanwhile, the ” nation goes dry July 1, next, by the president’s proclamation as a war measure, unless the president rescinds it before that date.

Of course, making alcohol illegal had many consequences, one of those was enterprising people who saw a way to make a buck, or several bucks. Beings as it was illegal, these enterprising people were outside the law, and subject to arrests. Moonshine raids were common around the area.

In a Greybull standard in Aug of 1922 there is this article about a moonshiner near Clearmont.John Toner, of Kendrick, was arrested by Revenue Officer Bruce Hodge under a federal warrant charging him with violation of the prohibition law, and is now confined in the Clearmont Jail, not being able to furnish the $1000 bond required…Two stills were found on the Toner ranch and eleven gallons of the finished product. One of them had a daily capacity of only ten gallons. For years, Toner was in the employ of the government as a mail clerk and is at present postmaster in Kendrick.

Although Wyoming moonshiners haven’t captured the imagination as much as the souped up cars and the car chases associated with moonshiners in the south, there was still some sensational moments in Wyoming, as this one reported in The Sheridan Post, in October of 1922 Guns Bark as Raiders Find Still. Johnson County Officials Locate Big Whiskey Plant After All-Day Hunt; Warrants Out for Six Alleged Rum Makers. Buffalo, Wyo., Oct. 13.— After discovering a wholesale moonshine plant near Sussex, 45 miles southeast of here, which has been the object of official search for six months, County Attorney F.M. Ward, Harry Deter, deputy sheriff, and a posse of three men were forced to defend themselves in the cave where the factory was found against a party of moonshiners numbering at least 15 men, the officials reported tonight.

After a desperate gun battle lasting 15 minutes the moonshiners were beaten off, with no casualties occurring on either side. Six of the moonshiners are said to have been recognized and warrants are out for their arrest. The factory is one of two which are believed to have been supplying Johnson and Natrona counties with illicit liquor for several months. The other is supposed to be near Kaycee. Ward and Deter, with Robert Peterson, J. W. Cook and John Cavin, left Buffalo Wednesday morning for Sussex, where they expected to get some trace of the illicit liquor manufacturing known to have been going on in that vicinity. They stumbled on a large cave, 11 miles southwest of Sussex about 3 p. m.

In the cave was a still of 5 barrels’ capacity, several hundred gallons of whiskey mash, and many more gallons of the finished product. After a search of the vicinity for the owners, the raiding party decided to spend the night in the cave, rather than attempt to take out the material and apparatus in the darkness.

A scrambling among the rocks above the cave first apprised the raiders that they were surrounded in the cave. In the truce that followed the moonshiners threatened to dynamite the cave unless the raiding party left. To make the threat realistic the moonshiners opened fire with their rifles. After a furious battle the law officers drove off the moonshiners. The contents of the dugout were burned or carried away the next morning by the officers and the party returned to Buffalo without more trouble.

Some of the moonshiners did more than a small local business, and this raid, mentioned in this Riverton Review Newspaper on Dec. 8, 1920, stated that one of those arrested was from Alabama, and obviously learned his trade there. Big Moonshine Plant Uncovered Near Sheridan – Sheridan: A still that would do the famous or Infamous Blue Ridge country of Vlrginia (proud)was destroyed and two moonshiners were arrested as the result of a raid conducted by Under Sheriff Ira Kirby and County Attorney M. L, Blake. The two men arrested are Brownlow Tingle and Peter Shoeledge and the former is a typical moonshiner who came here some time ago from Alabama, and from his conversation it is evident that he is perfectly familiar with all the intricacies of the moonshining business.

The still was located in a cabin on Slater creek, about two miles northwest of Monarch, and it is a coincidence that it was in the same cabin which Stanley Patz used as a slaughter house when he was arrested some time ago and charged with killing stolen cattle. The still was by far the most elaborate affair of the kind that has yet been uncovered in the state. It had a capacity of about 25 gallons per day and was no makeshift affair but a going, permanent concern.

There was a big furnace ten or twelve feet long built in a trench and at the end of the furnace was a copper still. Leading from the still was a long copper pipe which led to what Tingle called the “knocker” keg. From this keg the worm led through an ice-filled trough to the receptacle into which the whiskey emptied. When the officers arrived the still was in full operation and the booze was slowly pouring out into a can. while eager buyers were in the near vicinity waiting to grab the product of the worm as rapidly as it came forth. The officers, along with the still, took possession of several gallons of the white whiskey that had been made the day before and also destroyed a barrel of rye mash from which it is evident rye whiskey was later to be made. The booze factory was also a brewery and two barrels of beer brew were found that would soon have been ‘ ready for market. Tingle stated that one batch would have been ripe Tuesday and the other on the following Thursday. The two barrels of beer mash, in all about 100 gallons, were destroyed.

The local law officials were always on the lookout for illegal moonshine activity. A lesson here might be never call the Sheriff if you have illegal moonshine in your cellar.

The Sheridan Post, on May 20, 1921: Family Jar Ends In Moonshine Raid “Boot” Powers and his son, Estes Powers, will think twice before they again call in the Sheridan police to settle a little family jar, for they landed into the middle of trouble a good deal worse than blackened eyes and bloody noses, for in the encounter they, were knocked out by Father Volstead.

Answering the call to quell the disturbance at the Powers ranch near Clearmont the police officers found a goodly quantity of moonshine cashed away in the cellar. the “find” netted something like ten gallons of home made moonshine and several bottles of liquor. It seems to be the opinion in police circles that Powers had been peddling the stuff to Sheridan customers. Both Powers and his son are now lodgers in the city bastile,

Although some research indicted that alcohol consumption declined during the prohibition years, and rate of diseases caused by alcohol declined, many other died from illegal alcohol.

The Kemmerer Camera, in May of 1921 had this alarming article: “Moonshine is a Dangerous Drink. Some Interesting Facts Concerning Effects of Drinking from a “Forbidden Still.” “Moonshine is a poisoned drink and its use continued for any length of time will poison the system and will more than likely cause blindness or death. Such is the statement of E. C. Boom, prohibition director of Idaho, who has just had a chemical analysis made of 50 samples of what was considered as the best moonshine seized by the officers in Idaho. Every sample contained wood alcohol and four percent of the poison was the least contained in any of the samples. Four percent wood alcohol content is sufficient to cause blindness if used for a few months and is also sufficient to stop heart action and cause instant death, Some of it contained such an amount as to make its use dangerous even for a short time, especially that made in tin milk cans and in other utensils that it was impossible to keep clean.

The Eighteenth Amendment was repealed when congress passed the 21st Amendment on Feb. 20, 1933, and it was ratified by the states in December of that year. The act was not successful, as American’s wanted to decide for themselves whether to drink or not. Americans still drank, as it evidenced in the numerous stills, moonshiners and bootlegging that went on during the 14 years it was in force.

Moonshiners have made their mark on popular culture. Movies were made about moonshiners, television series like “Dukes of Hazard,” and currently, “Moonshiners.” In fact, NASCAR racing has its start during the prohibition era. Moonshiners used fast vehicles to transport whiskey, which were modified for speed and handling and had seats removed to store the bootlegged whiskey. Even after prohibition was repealed, stock car racing remained popular as a sport.

Other parts of prohibition era included the “speakeasies,” or illegal taverns that one had to ‘speak easy’ about, that sold alcoholic beverages in many towns. Although in England they have for centuries drank punch with alcohol, during prohibition cocktails came to America, in part to camouflage the taste of the often bad liquor.

The next time you drink a mojito, a mint julep, or a sidecar, think that these drinks may have been enjoyed by others some 88 years ago, when alcohol was illegal but people found a way to enjoy their favorite beverage anyway.