Dramatisation of Gérard Veilleux discussing prohibition

My name is Gérard Veilleux; I’ve been working at customs in Sutton since 1925. During American prohibition I worked part-time from 1925 to 1929, then from 1930 I worked full-time until 1965, when the border post at Sutton was closed. During that period I worked the border section of Sutton-Richford, on the trains heading for the United States. There was also a Montréal-Portland line in Maine, which went through Richford in Vermont. The Sutton office was also responsible for Mansonville, Highwater, Abercorn and Leadville, a tiny stop just before the American border. From 1920 to 1933 the American side was basically dry, not like us here in Québec. Illegal trafficking was rampant. For example, Canadian Pacific sold its famous $10 same-day, Montréal to Boston, round-trip tickets. Many of the border hotels gave the appearance of complying with Canada’s Scott Act, but in truth they were all in cahoots with the smugglers and bootleggers. In the shops around Sutton people called it “selling soup”. One night in 1930 I counted almost 1,100 vehicles crossing the border at Highwater between midnight and 6 a.m.