St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-11-27
SMUGCLERS ALIVE,
Why ST.. Paul Was Made the
Secret Service Headquar-
tiers.
The Northern Border Liter
ally Overrun With Bold
SmugglerS.
Lake Of the Woods and RaiHy
River Alive With Bue-
cancers.
Uncle Sans Remarkably
Weak Effort to Protect
Himself.

nPSOtd. LumOermcn Sneereu at this
and government officers ignored it; but
at last Uncle Sans eyes are opened to.
the extent of the raScalIty going on, and
will soon make determined effort to
end it. A few days ago it was announced
in these columns that OH Dec. | the
/ western headquarters of the secret Serv-
ice would be removed from Chicago to st.
Paul, to be nearer the seat of the SNUG
| Cling operations. The move is we'll timed.
| Few people i'm the United States are
aware thar organized bands of SNUG
| glerS Turk upon the northern frontiers
and make 4 business of cheating the.
| revenues OF the government to theeX-
! tent OF vast sums annually. They are
| not the swashbuckling smugglers of
| Ofden times. with piratical boards and
| armed 10 the teeth, living in caves and
| holding brotherhood of blood. On the
! contrary, they are set OF keen. shrewd
| citizens. men who pass well in the COM
| munity, who own houses and teams of
fast horses. Men upright in other re-
| spects, but WHO do not hesitate 10 break
| the law of the land regarding customs
| duties and who think they have per
| feet right to gOuge Uncle Sam out of
every dollar they can.
| Their business is rendered possible
| and profitable by the neglect of the
! United States government to protect its
| owI-culpable, ineXcusable neglect OF
| the government to provide the means to
| prevent its own pocket from being
! picked of many hundred thousand dol
lars annually.
| From the Red River of the North.
| which forms the dividing line between
| Minnesota and North Dakota, eastward
| along the boundary line of Minnesota to
| the Lake of the Woods, distance of
| about 100 miles, the United States gov
ernment has
One Mounted officer
to patrol the country and prevent snug
| Cling. The port of entry for this dis
Trict is at st. Vincent, near the june
| ton of the Red River OF the North and
| the international boundary line. There
| are only two men stationed here, a
| deputy collector and his assistant. While
one stays in the office the other is out
| OH patrol duty.
! The mounted officer goes once in every
twentyfOur hours to point fourteen
| miles east. Probably once a week he
| extends lis trip 20 the ROSeau river,
| thirty-siX miles away. The other sixty
| five miles to the Lake of the Woods is
| left entirely unguarded. 1t is rather an
| inhOspitable country. and the govern
ment trusts to this fact for immunity
from smugglers. You can perceive
what an opportunity for smuggling eX-
| lists.
| 1t would be impossible 10 find ii coun-
| try presenting more natural advantages
to smugglerS than does this section. 1t
| would almost appear that the country
was made for their especial benefit.
Even the government has contributed
| to their safety by locating the customs
! station In the most out OF the way place,
and advantageOus-fOr the smugglers.i
Imagine great stretch of prairie,
| level as a floor. extending twenty-five
miles in every direction. the dull
monOtOny broken by frequent belts of
timber and thick brush, Offering the
Securest shelter and cOncealment. No
streams to ford, nothing to prevent a
! quick trip with fast teams over the firm
roads of the hundreds of trails which
| gridirOn the prairie and wind in and out
| among the timber and brush.
On the north of the boundary line
and within half a dozen miles three or
four Canadian towns along the railroad,
where TO questions are asked of outfits
starting fer ''th2 States" On the south,
within six or eight miles, the Minnesota
towns of Halleck, Stevens and Argyle,
where railroad communication is OBJ
|
the intermediate country population
of Canadians, related by blood and po-
litical ties, whose sympathies are with
the SDuggierS.
At St. Vincent.
The United States custom house at
st. Vincent is located in hollow near
the Red River, surrounded by timber
| and brush, three miles south OF the
| hOnn6a rxr limo and 6ua roilpS xyoct Of tI,a
trails leading from the Canadian towns
to Halleck and the Minnesota towns
| SOHth.
Smugglers drive a cargo over from
| Emerson or Dominion City. unload the
cOntraband goods in the brush three
miles east OF the station, then drive on
to the custom house and report few
trifes. Having obeyed the law by re-
| porting they slip back to the brush, load
up and keep on down the trail. If over
| hauled afterward they declare they
bought the goods on the American side
and go free.
There is probably not another custom
| house in the world located eight miles
| from the border or the neighborhood
| where the duties become due.
The custom house should be located
| on the open prairie, where the trains
| leading to the South cross the Canadian
| line. The officer has to ride FIVE miles
before he strikes the trails used by the
smugglers.
Another FavOrIte Place
for smugglers is the Lake of the Woods.
! The northern end of the lake touches
| the Canadian Pacific railway at Rat
Portage and is in Manitoba. The south
| ern end washes the Minnesota shore,
and is connected with Rainy lake by the
I ID1.r, I,l-a :
for steamboats,, ana which here forms
the international boundary.
The United States has customs off,
Ger at the point where Rainy Lake river
| empties into the Lake of the Woods, but
he is useless fixture, for the steamboats,
| and SmugglerS' canoes simply follow the
Canadian side of the river, eighty miles
east, to Fort Francis, where there is no
officer.
At Fort Francis. which is the head of
navigation, everything is ''wide open''
on the American side. There is no re-
straint whatever. There is a large
amount of commerce on the waterways,
and no questions are asked about car
goes destined for the United. States.
Prepared opium, which is dutiable at
the rate of S12 per pound, is unloaded
from the steamer, packed in Indian
canoes and transported up Rainy Lake
river to VermilliOn river. thence to Yer
million lake and across to the town of
Tower. Mimi. which is the terminus of
the Duluth & Iron Range railway. No
attempt is made by the United States
government to prevent it.
From Fort Francis to Lake Superior.
distance of $50 miles along the great
est smugglers' highway in the world.
there is not one United States customs
officer to be found.
The Lake of the Woods is dotted with
hundreds of small islands with wooded
shores and separated by deep, winding
channels. Many OF the smugglers live
on these Islands, and when not running
q cargo of cOntraband goods they en-
i -. L