Dying to Drink Alcohol: Scott Wheeler of Derby to Talk About Prohibition on the Vermont/Quebec Border

By Scott Wheeler

Federal officers located along the Vermont/Quebec border tried everything to stop the smuggling of goods and human beings across the border, but smugglers kept coming through the woods and along unguarded roads, including in Derby Line. Some of the criminals had the guts to try to bring their cargo right through the port of entries under the noses of the officers hired to guard the border.

Officers of the law have always struggled to stop the illegal flow of goods and people across the Vermont/Quebec border. It was particularly challenging during the Prohibition era, a period that stretched from 1920 and 1933. According to the photo in which this postcard appears, this photo was taken at a “whiskey roadblock” on Derby Line’s Main Street during Prohibition.

Does the previous story sound familiar? Almost every day when we pick up a newspaper there is an article about the struggles that officers who guard and patrol the border face each day in their effort to try to capture smugglers and other people trying to enter the United States illegally. Their work has grown even more urgent since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, fearing future attackers could slip into the U.S. across the Vermont/Quebec border. But the above frustrations are not meant to outline the plight of today’s officers, but those of their colleagues who guarded the border during the Prohibition era – the 13 years between 1920 and 1933 that this country banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol.

Rumrunners came across the border on foot, horseback, cars, and boats. Larger loads of booze came by train. Law abiding men and women turned outlaws in an attempt to feed their families. Officers had the impossible, and sometimes deadly, task of stopping them. Rumors abound about local smugglers making it rich in the illegal trade, but in reality, most locals did little more than earn enough money to help them survive the depression. Others lost their life savings to foreclosure as they sat helplessly behind bars. And yet others lost their lives in car crashes or to bullets fired by other law-breakers or officers trying to enforce the law.

There are stories that people smuggling alcohol on Lake Memphremagog used Skinner’s Cave on the Quebec side of the lake to hide from pursuing lawmen on their trips south across the border into Vermont.

Come to the Haskell Free Library on Tuesday, June 26 at 7 p.m. and travel back to the days when bootleggers and rumrunners plied their illegal trade, smuggling alcohol from Quebec into Vermont. Scott Wheeler of Derby will present a slideshow of photos of the Prohibition era along the Vermont/Quebec border. Wheeler is the author of “Rumrunners and Revenuers: Prohibition in Vermont”, and the publisher of “Vermont’s Northland Journal”. People are encouraged to bring their memories and memorabilia. Those with questions can contact Scott at (802) 334-5920 or by email at northlandjournal@gmail.com The event is free to the public.