100 years ago in Spokane: Two smugglers were caught operating a “neighboring moonshine industry” that was on the rise

A “neighborly moonshine industry” was producing more than 20 gallons of cawn likker in northeast Spokane until police raided it.

Police arrived and found two whiskey stills in two neighboring houses on East Decatur Avenue. The owners of both houses were arrested.

At least one of the smugglers didn’t sound particularly contrite.

“If you hadn’t blown us away, we would have been running one of Spokane’s largest industries,” said SL Murphy, 39, an engineer. “It was run on a business basis and we only put out the best product. Our customers will confirm that. “

The stills had been in operation for more than a year. The business had done so well that it employed two salespeople, one for the city and one for the street.

About 25 gallons of alcohol were confiscated, along with an oil stove and stills.

From the tourist beat: The tourist season in Spokane was in full swing, with around 100 cars parked most nights in Spokane’s “tourist park” at Highbridge Park.

Many of them were in the middle of marathon driving tours. Fred Whipple and his daughter, whose address was Broadway, New York, were in the middle of a 21,000 mile journey that began last summer. After skipping the winter in California, they drove through the national parks on the Yellowstone Trail.

Two other men from New York had driven 3,000 miles in a “three-wheeled vehicle from Harley-Davidson Manufactory” and had made their way to Los Angeles.

A woman from San Francisco said she drove her car to places where she could board a steamboat ferry, “which gives her two types of scenery from the same area, including the coasts that few tourists see and that have their own charm to have”.