This never quite
got the press that the bush rats of British Columbia got and I have seen little
about what came down in the natural habitat of Appalachia. This closes that gap.
Put that
together with their past history of been in effective continuous revolt and
nothing is a surprise here.
Since pot is on
the way to become fully legalized in one form or another this too will wane and
turn over into quality blends from the hills.
The Legendary
Pot Growers and Moonshiners of Appalachia
How it Started
For many years Appalachian hillfolk have had a
secret: most of the strongest cannabis in the world comes from this mountainous
region on the eastern coast of the United States. To understand how this
happened, we first need to understand the history of whiskey in Appalachia.
In the 1700s, Scotch and Irish were leaving their
countries in droves to escape poverty and a tyrannical government. They were
unwelcome in most of the major cities in the Colonies, so they staked their
claims in the harsh mountains of Appalachia. One of the things they brought
with them was a cultural knowledge of distilling, and they started making
whiskey; a lot of it. The flood of booze was so substantial that it actually
changed the local economies from a rum-based bartering system to one that was
whiskey based.
The Scotch-Irish community had a rough life in the
region they tried to settle. They invaded the lands of the Indians, ultimately
fighting with them for twenty years. Through this, they became hardy fighters
and learned to live off the land. After a few generations they adapted and became
completely self-sufficient communities, rarely coming down from the mountains
to interact with outsiders. The whiskey flowed and they started thriving on the
trade—until George Washington ruined all the fun.
The Whiskey
Rebellion
The Revolutionary War (1775-1783) was mainly fought
over taxes. George Washington ran up a large bill paying for the Revolution and
needed to figure out a way to pay it off. He decided to start America’s
first sin tax, and proceeeded to levy all the whiskey that the Appalachian
hillfolk were making. At the time, most of the population didn’t care about how
the Scotch-Irish in the mountains made a living, and Washington thought it
would be an easier tax to sell to the public if he taxed discriminated
outcasts.
The Scotch-Irish in the mountains of Pennsylvania
refused to pay this unjust tax. In response, Washington raised an army of ten
thousand men to overwhelm, arrest, or kill anyone who refused to pay; this
became known as the Whiskey Rebellion (1791-1794.) One result of this was that
many people grew to dislike George Washington. After all, he had gone to war
over unjust taxes, yet one of the first things he did in office was to declare
an unjust tax, and attack the country’s own people.
Generations of
Mistrust of the Government
This event had an extremely damaging effect on how
the moonshiners viewed authority: they never trusted the government again, and
passed down this sentiment to their progeny. Even to this day that
sprit of self-reliance and government defiance lives strong in Appalachia. The
families and clans closed ranks and moved deep into the hills to keep making
whiskey.
This assault on the mountainfolk went on through the
Civil War (1861-1865), with Lincoln also harassing and attacking any
Appalachian whiskey makers who refused to pay taxes to help fund the
war. The government’s war on hillfolk went on until Prohibition took hold in
the 1920s (1921-1933.)
The Appalachian moonshiners were in the right place
at the right time when alcohol became illegal. They already had the structure
in place for generations to make lots of whiskey, and they could easily pick up
their production to make a fortune. The government ramped-up their raids, but
met a very uncooperative public when they rolled into towns. The prohibition
police got no help locating the stills and made very few busts. This encouraged
many more people to get into moonshining, and inevitably, the market became
oversaturated. When Prohibition ended, the hills were left with way too many
distillers.
Moonshiners
Become Pot Growers
In order to survive, many moonshiners took on a
second business of selling marijuana. The soil and climate of the mountains was
ideal for growing the cannabis plant, and after a few generations of selective
breeding, they developed some of the best weed in the world. The plants grew
over 15 feet high, with leaves bigger than a hand. The buds were much larger
than average, and the THC content was two to three times the strength of other
pot from around the world. The money was becoming so good that many quit
moonshining and threw all their efforts into cultivating marijuana.
As the DEA rose to power, they cracked down hard on
these so-called rebels. New laws allowed the government to confiscate any
property a “drug grower” had, and to sell it off. The hillfolk reacted to such
a harsh law by not growing drugs on their property anymore. To mitigate risk,
they moved their grow operations onto government-owned land and parks.
The Pot Growers Booby Trap their Crops
###
Battle Against
The DEA
Even now, during the month of September, the growers
sneak into the land and reap their rewards. Of course the DEA has tried to set
up stings and catch the pot farmers, but most attempts have been unsuccessful.
Even with insane amounts of money being given to the DEA, they can only find
and destroy a small percentage of what is growing on public land. The
Appalachian farmers even go as far as to set booby traps to protect their
crops. Many agents have been hurt when trying to destroy the plants.
This historical chess match shows no sign of
stopping and there is a good chance that the mountainfolk will always find a
way to stay a step ahead.
2 comments:
A word of caution please. From a colorful past I have known both bootleggers and weed wranglers and to a man, none of them are anything like the romantic picture that you have drawn. It's about money and these people aren't rebels fighting for a historic cause. These are people who businessmen and what they are doing is putting food on the table.
I am 64 years old, nearly 65, and was born in Hazard, Southeastern Kentucky in 1949. Although I did not grow up there my family returned there to Upper Lotts Creek Hollow, where I was specifically born, two or born times a year.
Now this is a comment to this quote above: "The Appalachian farmers even go as far as to set booby traps to protect their crops. Many agents have been hurt when trying to destroy the plants." One of the stories, funny or not, that I heard in Upper Lotts Creek where I was born was that one of the booby traps set by the Moonshiners and I suppose Pot Growers was a tail-tied rattlesnake. The tail of a live rattlesnake would be tied to a rope and then staked. From the stories I heard anyone entering the striking area (rope length plus snake length) would be suddenly and unexpectedly struck multiple, no many, many times by a very angry and frightened viper snake and it was very unusual that the victim would leave there there alive.
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