Dick Ferris/Gene Derwinski FOURTEEN BARRELS OF wine were confiscated in a raid at the home of Frank Porenta, 601 W. A St., in September 1927. At 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 17, 1928, the Iron Mountain Police Force, assisted by members of the Michigan State Police Department, “poured” the wine down the gutter in front of the police station at Iron Mountain City Hall, 206-216 E. Ludington St. The three men assisting in the “pouring” of the barrels in this photograph were, left to right, John C. Eslick, Police Chief Peter Carlevato and Lawrence D. Tucker, then a cub reporter for The Iron Mountain News. It was said that more than 850 gallons of wine were poured into the street that day.

IRON MOUNTAIN — “The Prohibition Era on the Eastern Menominee Iron Range: A Compilation of Contemporary Local Newspaper Articles Documenting Prohibition” by William J. Cummings recounts this colorful era during the Roaring ’20s.

The new 214-page, spiral-bound book with a full-color cover contains 32 historic photographs, principally of area saloons during the pre-Prohibition era, as well as eight sheet music covers showing the country’s reaction to Prohibition, and eight additional cartoons and posters of the era.

Copies are available for $20 plus tax at the Cornish Pumping Engine and Mining Museum gift shop at 300 Kent St. All proceeds go to the Menominee Range Historical Foundation to help support the Foundation’s three museums, now open for the season.

The book’s introductory section outlines the history of the Temperance Movement, including the formation of the American Temperance Society (1826), the prohibitionist Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (1873) and establishment of the Anti-Saloon League (1893). All three of these organizations played a significant role in the Prohibition Movement.

Origins of terms useful in understanding the Prohibition Era also are defined, such as blind pig, blind tiger, speakeasy, rum-running and bootlegging.

A number of local contemporary newspaper articles from the 1880s illustrate the results of excessive alcohol consumption, including saloon brawls, in early Iron Mountain. Additional contemporary accounts from 1910, 1915 and 1917 provide insight into the evolution of Prohibition locally and the battle over “wet” and “dry” legislation in Michigan.

Numerous accounts from the Iron Mountain Press in 1918, not available on microfilm but a part of the Menominee Range Historical Foundation’s archives, outline how prohibition began in Michigan on May 1, 1918, about a year and a half before national prohibition. Since Wisconsin was “wet,” there were many difficulties in enforcing Michigan’s new law along the border.

Sheet music covers and some lyrics are reproduced, including “Prohibition Blues” (1917); “Every Day Will Be Sunday When The Town Goes Dry” (1918); “I Never Knew I Had a Wonderful Wife Until the Town Went Dry” (1919); “At the Prohibition Ball” (1920); “How Are You Going to Wet Your Whistle When the Whole Darn World Goes Dry” (1920); “It’s the Smart Little Feller who Stocked Up His Cellar That’s Getting the Beautiful Girls” (1920); and “The Moon Shines On The Moonshine” (1920).

The 18th Amendment went into effect Jan. 16, 1920. Contemporary articles dealing with local moonshiners, raids by federal, state and local officials, trials and sentencing hearings are documented chronologically from 1920 through 1933. Hundreds of local names appear in these articles, which principally cover Dickinson County, but there are some articles from Iron County, Florence County and Niagara, Wis. Names are boldfaced for easy reference.

There were many “clean-up” efforts in Dickinson County and the surrounding area that included not only illegal alcohol production and sales but also the eradication of houses of prostitution. Raids and arrests in “Little Hurley,” across the Michigan boundary line near Twin Falls, proved especially interesting in 1925.

Cleaning up “The Midway” in downtown Iron Mountain was a focal point during the spring of 1926. Infamous during the last two decades of the 19th century and the first three decades of the 20th century, The Midway stretched for three or four blocks on East and West Hughitt Streets, lined with saloons and brothels.

Raids staged by Sheriff Frank Cleveland, Iron Mountain Chief of Police Rudolph Freeman and Dickinson County Prosecuting Attorney Ray E. MacAllister, together with federal agents and city policemen as well as private investigators, really cracked down on gambling, prostitution and prohibition. The first two weeks of May were particularly intense on The Midway and throughout Dickinson County.

During the Prohibition Era, most local violators were sent to Marquette for arraignment before the U.S. Federal Court. Arrests were so plentiful in spring 1926 that the “Marquette Special,” sometimes also called the “Moonshine Special,” left almost daily with area residents charged with liquor law violations.

The extensive clean-up campaign carried on in Dickinson County resulted in what was billed as the “biggest term” in federal court — estimated at 100 cases when the court opened on July 13, 1926, in Sault Ste. Marie. Due to the inordinate number of cases coming from Dickinson County, The Iron Mountain News sent a staff correspondent to cover the federal court proceedings and provide its readers with timely, detailed articles, all contained in the book. Many local residents were convicted and some were sentenced to do time in county, state and even federal prisons.

In late May 1926, Dickinson County Sheriff Frank Cleveland suddenly resigned and was replaced at his request by his son, Lloyd Cleveland. Sheriff Lloyd Cleveland and two deputies were arrested and charged with federal conspiracy on July 3, adding more drama to the federal court proceedings at Sault Ste. Marie.

The tragic deaths of three young Iron Mountain men due to the consumption of what turned out to be wood alcohol occurred in April, 1927. Some of the events involving this incident occurred at The Pine Gardens and The Nightingale, popular dance pavilions at Badwater.

On Dec. 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment went into effect, repealing the 18th Amendment. By the way, the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act, the legal measure that included the instructions for enforcing Prohibition, never barred the consumption of alcohol. The 18th Amendment made it illegal to make, sell or ship alcohol for mass production and consumption.

People on the Menominee Range found that prices for legal liquor were too expensive when Prohibition ended during the Depression, as the supply was limited initially and drinks were priced at 25 to 50 cents while homemade brew was offered at 15 cents or less.

Three additional new publications are now available at the gift shop are: “Sgt. Oscar Godfrey Johnson, Jr.: World War II Medal of Honor Recipient from Dickinson County, Michigan”; “Willie Dickinson Is Missing! The Unsolved 1881 Kidnapping of 5-Year-Old Mining Superintendent’s Son in Commonwealth, Wisconsin”; and “Kingsford Fuel: The Burning History of the Charcoal Briquette.”