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Showing posts from December, 2013

Cheers to the End of Prohibition, and Some Little Known Facts About Oregon's Alcohol History

by Joy Spencer Illegal Moonshine Still near Skyline in Portland, Oregon Today, December 5, marks the 80th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition, ending the 13-year stretch when alcohol was banned from coast to coast. In January 1920, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect making the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol illegal nationally. But, many years before that - even before Oregon was a state, ‘Oregonians’ tried to control the manufacture and sale of liquor.    In June of 1844, Oregon 's provisional government enacted a prohibition law designed to “prevent the introduction, sale and distillation of ardent spirits in Oregon .”   This law remained in effect until September of 1849, when the territorial legislature repealed it.   Rather than total prohibition, Oregon passed various laws in the following decades designed to regulate liquor sales.   These acts tended to specify certain licensing criteria for the selling of li