History On the Moonshiners Trail...

I heard that you can still buy Moonshine if you know the right people around NC.

 

My mom recently died at 94, and her Dad (my grandfather) was a humble farmer who farmed a small farm in Nebraska through the Dust Bowl Years. He was mostly known for his reputation as a horse trader whom might have traded the horse he just traded for before he got home from town. About a year and a half ago she said to to my brothers "Your grandpa might have run a little whiskey during the dust bowl years". My surprised brothers said "what makes you think that?" and she just said, "Well, I was there!"

 

I slipped into town and grabbed Lawless ,great movie with screen play by an aussie Nick Cave of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds fame..

 

Its still around, but its not as common as it once was. There's easier ways to make a living...some of them legal. LOL. The people moving it arent using hopped up old Fords either, that's just a good way to call attention to yourself nowadays...exactly what you dont want! Store-bought liquor is cheaper, and a lot less trouble. Its fading away fast.

 

Tell us Jive-Bomber, is the chronicle to be continued? Hope so.

 

Growing up in western Tennessee I remember hearing stories of the "bad Bondurant's" from Virginia. Their mention didn't come up often in our side of the family, but when it did, it wasn't in a good light. Darn, I wish I could have met a few! "Big Daddy", my grandfather, always had a mason jar on the refrigerator with wax paper on the lid, and us kids could never touch it, as he "had given up drink years ago" . Toward the end of his life he took it down and found it had mysteriously turned back into water as the alcohol had "evaporated" out. ahhhh, hic! Nothing quite like mis-spent youth!

 

Guess it kinda explains my avatar.......................

 

Brings back memories while living in Homes Co Florida during the 50' watching men come and go from my dad's shop. At 6 years old I always wondered why men would bring in gallon juges of water in the back of there trucks with a tarp covering the jugs.

 

loved the raw mash video, would like to visit one day and stay a month.maybe get a taste for the real thing…..

 

Corn liquor is still available to this day in the right circles, and not limited to the 'south'.

Got to see "Thunder Road" first time when I was a kid. It was just released ('58?), family night out at the drive-in. Made me a Mitchum fan for life, and fueled the car obsession even more.

 

Back "Inna day" I was at one time or another involved in just about every aspect of this dangerous, illegal, and just plain hard work business. Tough to tote 100# sacks of sugar down thru the woods, for sure. Made it, hauled it, and built the equipment. Got a laugh outta the recording of the old guy relating the story of bending a coil around a tree instead of a stump , and then having to cut the tree down to get the coil.
Most of the shine was made to sell, not to drink, and the condensor was an automotive radiator, rather than a coil. Lots of heavy drinkers of the stuff wound up with lead poisoning. Mother worked a bookkeeping job and the part time maid at home had a husband who died, mostly of lead poisoning.
Last name of the guy escapes me, but a guy in Atlanta nicknamed "Fats" bought a 55 gallon drum of methanol, telling the supplier it was to be used for race car fuel. Well, he mixed it up with water and sold it as shine. Lots of people got sick and some died. Fats was caught, tried and convicted, seems to me he got life sentence, not sure on that point.
So it wasn't all racing thru the winding back roads, running from the revenuers as it has been romanticized to be. Lots of rough, violent, and unscrupulous people involved, people you'd just as soon it not be known you associated with.
Gotta go for now, but I'll try to get back later with some of the morew pleasant stuff about the business.

 

yup there was a lot of bad shine back in the day, people looking for a quick dollar using an auto radiator instead of a copper worm. I had an uncle who got a bad batch and went blind for six months from who knows what. another uncle used to be a timber lot surveryor for Harris Flooring in East TN. He had a lot of stories about finding a still deep in a wood lot he was inspecting and held there until the operators could verify he was from the flooring company, not from the revenuers. Generally they would put him to work while he waited, stoking the fire and other chores.

 

Yeah I just watched it tonight aswell. Nick Cave's definitely a better screen writer than song writer;-) (never was a fan of his music)

sent via classroom note. pass it on

 

My uncle was a Yankee moonshiner in the 30's here in Iowa. He knew flatheads, and proably 50 years ago taught me how to use a .040" piston ring in a .030" cylinder, and file the ends of the rings to get the perfect end gap. 30 years latter some west-coast "geneus" "invents" file -fit piston rings!

 

Saw Thunder Road again about 2 months ago,still one of my favorites.

 

Gotta watch that movie...The prequel to The Dukes of Hazzard.

 

Remember seeing Thunder Road at the Starlight Drive-In in the back seat of my parents car. I was to young to drive legally in Stamford CT. I thought it was the greatest movie ever. Anyway took this picture of this plate topper hanging on my wall for many years.

 

great thread. Always loved the mountainboys better then the hotrodders from cali.
a fast car was a necessity instead. its nice to see this stuf on here. reading driving with the devil.
great book about it all.

 

I was never up there, but my late friend Don "One Eye" Steuernagel was from Fife, WA... he used to run Applejack... I bet Morrison of Morrison Chassis would know about it's prevalence up there.

 

That stuff he's selling is "Designer Shine," that's why it doesn't taste worth a crap.

 

Yep, you can get it just about anywhere.

Hypothetical question-
I usually take my DD truck to pick it up, that makes it a moonshine runner technically. Now if I take old ford to pick it up that makes it a documented moonshine runner right ? I'm mean I could take pictures too, that would prove the claim right?

 

Wall Mart sells it here, in a dozen designer flavors.

 

You come see me and I'll share my good stuff with you

 

Cleveland rocks, but it's a long drive for a drink bud.

 

Not just in the south, in north central Pa. the best known was Prince Farrington.
A friends family owns his home in Jersey shore Pa. area, there is a tunnel in the basement that goes down to the river and a hatch on the roof by the chimney for a lookout.

 

Dang " this threads Great" Dig them real deal Southern Boys talking about you kin folk" Been liking that stuff for years"