# Whiskey Peddling - American Old West **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 14, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiskey-peddling-american-old-west/683662 "2014-03-14T01:18:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiskey-peddling-american-old-west/683662/1 "2014-03-14T01:18:59Z")
I happened to be watching an old Eastwood classic [Hang 'Em High](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061747/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) last night. One of the rampant crimes noted was Whiskey Peddling. I haven’t been able to locate anything about exactly what that term meant and why it was a crime at the time? All the write ups I found were just about whiskey sellers. So in the context of the American Old West, what did a Whiskey Peddler do exactly and why was it illegal? ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiskey-peddling-american-old-west/683662/2 "2014-03-14T01:31:39Z")
I would guess that the crime was not paying the taxes that are associated with the whiskey. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiskey-peddling-american-old-west/683662/3 "2014-03-14T01:42:14Z")
Just what the name says: peddling (that is, selling) whiskey. Prohibition wasn’t created in 1919 when it was adopted nationally; a few states had it well before then. Maine had it before the Civil War, IIRC. In those places, selling whiskey would be a crime. Also, whiskey was a lot more potent, and was believed to cause a lot more social problems, than the historic drinks of beer (by Northern Europeans) and wine (Southern Europeans) so traditions involving drinking moderate amounts of relatively low-alcohol beer and wine weren’t so moderate when high-alcohol liquor was substituted. (All this IIRC from the PBS documentary on prohibition.) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiskey-peddling-american-old-west/683662/4 "2014-03-14T01:44:44Z")
Peddling whisky to Indians. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiskey-peddling-american-old-west/683662/5 "2014-03-14T03:15:44Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Peddling whisky to Indians. This is 99.9% certain to be the answer. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiskey-peddling-american-old-west/683662/6 "2014-03-14T03:44:02Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Peddling whisky to Indians. That makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiskey-peddling-american-old-west/683662/7 "2014-03-14T04:21:44Z")
Peddling whiskey? That’s a paddlin. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiskey-peddling-american-old-west/683662/8 "2014-03-14T05:35:33Z")
The whiskey trade contributed to Canadian concerns about Americans taking over the Canadian west. The [Cypress Hills Massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypress_Hills_massacre), in which Americans killed approximately 2 dozen Indians in Canada, and [Fort Whoop-Up](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Whoop-Up), both were influences on the government of Canada establishing a police presence, the North-West Mounted Police.