Much has been made in popular culture of the connection between liquor haulers and NASCAR auto racing, but in truth few Blue Ridge moonshine drivers dabbled in organized racing. The realties between the two activities took place in local garages where mechanics modified engines for speed and suspensions for hauling. The mechanics’ skills were useful to both stock car racers and moonshine runners.
Confiscated, Captured & Destroyed - An Industry in Decline
No one can even estimate how many gallons of illegal alcohol have left the Blue Ridge unnoticed over the years, but various government and business records reflect a gigantic whiskey trade in its hayday. For instance, during the 13 years of Prohibition (1920 to 1933) agents in Franklin County alone destroyed 3,909 stills, made 1,660 arrests and seized over 716 vehicles along with 130,717 gallons of alcohol. In 1926 Agent L.E. Bridges reported the following from raids in Franklin, Floyd and Patrick Counties over 14 months.
Captured & Destroyed - 337 Stills, 1,713 fermenters, 334 wood doublers, 333 flake stands, 563 metal wash tubs, 493 buckets, 153 hoes, 28 mattocks, 249,750 gallons beer, 3,773 gallons whiskey, 90 gallons brand.
Confiscated - 19 automobiles, 4 wagons, 5 horses, 3 mules, 4 sets double harness.
Evidence gathered for the Franklin County moonshine conspiracy trial of 1935 showed that from 1930 to 1935 more than 1,000,000 five-gallon whiskey storage cans were sold in the county. During that same period the county used 37 tons of yeast (9 times what the city of Richmond used) and 16,920 tons of sugar.
Though once a large industry, moonshining has been shrinking in the Virginia Blue Ridge. Operation Lightning Strike, a major bust centered in Franklin county in 1999 - 2001, revealed that the local company selling bootleggers their supplies annual brought more than 500 tons of sugar and 125,000 one-gallon plastic jugs over a 4 year span in the 1990’s. However, even theses amounts show a decline in moonshining; the same company had purchased 2,500 tons of sugar per year in the 1980’s. The application of conspiracy laws, the use of electronic surveillance techniques and improved methods for tracking the flow of money have made illegal
distilling a riskier business. Large scale moonshining
may never return to the Virginia Blue Ridge.
Still Runnin Magazine would like to acknowledge many thanks and credit for this fine Exhibition Produced by the Blue Ridge Institute & Museum of Ferrum College.
The “Moonshine - Blue Ridge Style” exhibit is currently on display with the Virginia Historical Society at the Museum of Virginia History, located in Richmond, Virginia and will travel in the future to The History Museum of Western Virginia in Roanoke We were unable to find out its final appearance date in Richmond, so pack up the family and hurry out to see the “Moonshine - Blue Ridge Style” Exhibition today. 