Canada's Rumrunners: Incredible Adventures and Exploits During Canada's Illicit Liquor Trade

by Art Montague

"...despite flying bullets and cannon shots, Ben had his crew hastily tossing evidence over the side of the boat. Bullet-riddled, the Maritimas finally came to a stop, but even then, the crew continued to throw the beer overboard." This book will be especially fascinating for all readers interested the history of crime or prohibition. It is safe to say that America would have been a much drier place during Prohibition if Canadians had not rushed to the aid of their neighbours. While the United States was in full Prohibition (1920-1933), Canadian entrepreneurs were hard at work across the country supplying liquor by the barrel-load.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

128 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

Reviews

[Taveri]

the first third of the book, providing an overview of Rumrunning, read quite well and was a four star read then it dwindled into a hodgepodge of stories with snippets of various booze smugglers that were a two star read. Some of the elaborated stories, such as the story of Emilio Picariello (Emperor Pic) were better drawn out.

Some tidbits from the book:
P17 some 100,000 Canadians prospered on the fringe of legality
P22 Where There's a Will, There's a Still > the Hudson Bay Company had the first successful interprovincial mail order business, which delivered liqour through a loophole in the prohibition legislation
P22 Some Ontario households ordered freight car loads of whisky from Quebec (for personal consumption mind you)
Pthe Coal Harbour mothership would carry 10,000 cases of liquor at a time down the West Coast, staying outside the 12 Mile limit, for bootleggers to transfer goods
P39 Bootleggers were retailers; Rumrunners were wholesalers
P40 Because the Canadian Federal Government was obtaing significant tax revenue from shipping liquour they had no interest in stopping the traffic to the USA
P41 an ambush to hijack liquor saw 300 shots fired with no whiskey bottles hit in a one hour battle - no police turned up to investigate
P45 the shallow Eastern end of Lake Erie was noiorious for unpredictable storms throwing up 30-40 foot waves. The weather predictors were "By Guess" and "by God".
P47 During prohibition 25% of liquour enforcement officers were dismissed for taking bribes and major distillers provided major political campaign contributions
P72 one confiscated Rumrunner's boat was converted into a Coast Guard vessel
P81 Liquor from Saskatchwan was smuggled into Manitoba by being buried under coal, lumber, flour and animal hide railway shipments
P91 Emperor Pic and his daughter-in-law, Filomena, where hanged for the shooting of an unarmed police officer - both professend innocence > it was the only time a woman was hanged in Alberta. An opera entitled "Filomena" debuted in Calgary in 2003. It was an epic tale of love, passion, crime and intrigue.

[Kristen]

This was a fun, and educational look at a very tumultuous period in Canadian history. The people the book talks about are truly "characters" one and all, and the shenanigans that went on in Canada once the U.S. declared Prohibition is pretty entertaining to read about.

As with so many other things Canadian, we did illegal liquor sales, for the most part, without the violence and criminal behaviours that characterized similar "entrepreneurs" in the U.S. The Canadians like to run their rum with a wink-and-a-nod, and a whole lotta style and panache. These are clever and in many cases charming hoodlums, just trying to make a living, and reading about them was a heck of a lot of fun.

I had a great-uncle who actually was a rumrunner working the Detroit river between Windsor and Detroit, and I picked this up sort of hoping I might see his name in the book. Unfortunately, that didn't happen - I guess he wasn't as well-known as the "famous" runners who are profiled by name. But I still enjoyed this quite a lot. I love Canadian history in general, and this was a particularly exciting period.

[Chris]

While this book isn't an in-depth look at the illegal booze smuggling in Canada during the American prohibition era, it is a quick introduction to the era, both the business and characters of the time. The author's light and easy style make this a fun and entertaining read.

[Mike Barat]

I can't say this was the best book I have ever read about Canadian rumrunners, however there are interesting stories in this to make it worth reading, and there is no lack interesting charters in this book either. And writer Art Montague style moves along at decent pace to keep the story from being draggy. If your looking for a book with a great amount of details about the history of rumrunning in Canada this book is not for you. As long you except this book for what it is, it worth reading. It's also a fast read at 117 pages.

[Kelly Martin]

This was an interesting and educational book. It read well too.

[C. John Kerry]

An enjoyable book of a chapter of Canadian history I was aware of but really didn't know that much about. It is interesting to note that some of the major players in this enterprise are still around as corporate entities involved in the players in the alcohol business. The book introduces us to a lot of the characters who were involved in the rumrunning business. We are also treated to explanations of how Canadian (and provincial) laws could be used to facilitate the business. If the export forms listed the consignee as being somewhere other than the US then all that concerned the government was that it get the money owed to it for the transaction. This even if a craft leaving Toronto was listed as going to Mexico as long as customs was paid then no problem. There are also chapters on rumrunning in the west, which was different than in central Canada. So all in all, if the history of prohibition is of interest to you then this is a good book to read. Of course it is also of interest to those who have an interest in Canadian history in general. Happy reading.

[Tom Wile]

Given that the term 'rum runner' was coined in the maritimes I would have thought we would have been given more than 11 of the 200 pages in the book. A decent read but don't expect to get much of an Atlantic perspective. That's why I picked it up in the first place. Author must be from Ontario.