, 1886-06-18
A BLOCKADE STILL HOUSE.
A Mortar and Pcstie Worked by Water
Dew

n NlDrtar anu Icstie Norkfu ny water
Power-"AIountain Dew
But these unlettercd sons Of the noun
tains who are the manufacturers of illicit
whisky are not of the worst type Of
criminals. They believe That they have
a right to do as they choose with their
own, and hence distill their corn ia7'ead
of hauling it over almost impossible
roads fifty or 100 miles away to market.
The moonsh.ner calls in his neighbors.
and with their aid and that of his wife
and sons and daughters there is soon
built n rude structure now SO common in
this mountain section. and popularity
called a BLOCKADE still house" The
malt is pounded into a powder by means
of mortar and pestle, which is operated
by the water in the brook always hard
by every still. A beam like an old
fashioned well sweep is arranged on the
bank of the stream and poised on a full
crum. On the end of the beam furthest
from the brook is the mortar, large
enough to hold several bushels of malt,
and into this falls the huge pcstlc, n
three or four feet section Of a trees
trunk, some eight inches in diameter.
vi lllt Olilti tid VI ht D'hii IL u 'u'httr
sufficiently large to hold water enough
to be heavier than the pestle, and this,
being in position to catch the diminutive
waterfall, gently presses downward when
full, and, bearing the pestle aloft, sinks
until it rests upon an incline plane,
where the water pours out, and the pes
tie falls, only to be pulled up again as
the bucket takes in water anew. This is
a sort of pestle that will beat and pound
away whether the moonshiner be with it
or, in fear of the coming of the officers
of the law, has hied himself away among
the higher hills.
When n suficientnumber of gallons of
whisky have been made to justify a trip
to market the mucular moonshiner and
his force carry the precious fluid by the
jugful to his humble home far down the
mountain side. where the road begins.
Onto the canvascovered wagon the kegs
are rolled, and down the mountain go
the oxen or the mules, carrying into the
pale of civilization the ~highlander's
tribute to commerce.. Away across the
Blue mountains, the boundary line be-
tween the Carolinas, this freight is
boih' bhth hiiNti hihh tthih liz dihib
the cotton fields of the Palmetto state,
where the thirsty planter halls with
gladness the moonshine wagon, while
the gay and festive villager, oppressed
by local option views, extends the heart
lest welcome to the contents of the kegs,
and considers the dispenser of the dew
a veritable alchemist, whose magical
distillation filings over the commonplace
of life the glamour of gilt edge.
The moonshiner thur distills and dis
tributes until some revenue official over
takes him in his traffic. Then Il trial al
court, and, if he is convicted, a term al
Albany, but if he is acquitted, as for lack
of sufficient evidence he is likely to be.
the moonshiner returns to his remott
habitntion, and, far up among the pro
tecting mountains, kindles again the
fires whose embers are scarcely cold. III,
lives with small crops and a large family,
with little information and many wants,
with the least of ambitions and soundesi
of appetites, until he passes away and
sleeps with his fathers under the shadow
of the mountains where he first saw the
light, and where his uneventful days
have been spent.-Chicago Herald.