Wright Hall Speakeasy

"The basement of Wright Hall has a room which began its life as a Prohibition-era speakeasy! Now it’s got comfortable couches and chairs, just right for a small group gathering."

Cheri Dohnal, Columbia River Gorge: Natural Treasure on the Old Oregon Trail

In November of 1887, Oregon voters defeated a proposed amendment to the state constitution to institute state-wide prohibition... On June 6, 1904, Oregon voters passed what was called a "local option" law. It allowed communities to implement liquor prohibition one a precinct-by-precinct basis. The law was approved by the Legislative Assembly in 1905 and very soon after it was made official, the city of Hood River became the first town in the state to implement the practice of prohibition. Their desire for an alcohol-free zone may have come in part as a result of seeing what happened to nearby Cascade Locks (previously known as Whiskey Flat) in the 1890s.

Over the next decade, various Oregon counties and cities enacted prohibition via the use of the local option. Before long, the state was again seriously considering a complete ban on liquor. ... On November 3, 1913, Oregon voters passed an amendment to the state constitution prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or advertisement of intoxicating liquor. In 1915, the Legislative Assembly enacted legislation implementing statewide prohibition, effective January 1, 1916. It was a full three years before ratification of the 18^th Amendment to the Constitution paved the way for alcohol to be banned across the nation. They had voted to make Oregon a dry state.

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One loophole in the prohibition law was a provision for "personal medical use" liquor products. Stills sprang up in some of the strangest places, and of course they were not all for personal use and lawmen couldn't keep up with them. Most of the Gorge is flanked by the Cascade mountains, so it was certainly easy enough to hide a still – especially if one was willing to hide it some distance up the hillside. Nature was rife with camouflage that could be used to disguise a still. Rumrunning came into vogue and, unless a lawman wanted to try to follow the still owner up the mountain, he wasn't likely to find it. And if a fellow had registered his still for personal use, lawmen weren't likely to follow him at all as they could only cite someone if the still was considered to be too high capacity for personal use.

Like anywhere else, there were several bootleggers selling their "hooch" throughout the Gorge.

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Finally, an initiative petition for some relief was filed with the state and the matter included on the November ballot in 1932. Voters chose to eliminate virtually all penalties from Oregon law relating to prohibition. They couldn't vote prohibition itself out, but they could eliminate the penalties. The entire nation was tired of prohibition by then, though, and in preparation for a repeal of the federal law, Oregon's voters repealed the state law in the summer of 1933. Shortly thereafter, Oregon ratified the 21^st Amendment to the Constitution and federal prohibition was no more.

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