Oral History Program Nona Snively Interviewed by Donna Roberts 24 April 1972 i Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Nona Snively Interviewed by Donna Roberts 24 April 1972 Copyright © 2014 by Weber State University, Stewart Library ii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. Archival copies are placed in University Archives. The Stewart Library also houses the original recording so researchers can gain a sense of the interviewee's voice and intonations. Project Description The Weber State College/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Stewart Library of Weber State University. No part of the manuscript may be published without the written permission of the University Librarian. Requests for permission to publish should be addressed to the Administration Office, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, 84408. The request should include identification of the specific item and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Snively, Nona, an oral history by Donna Roberts, 24 April 1972, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Nona Snively. The interview was conducted on April 24, 1972, by Donna Roberts in the city of Ogden, Utah. Mrs. Snively discusses her memories and experiences during the time of prohibition in America. DR: This is an interview by Donna Roberts of Nona Snively on April 24, for the WSC Oral History Program. This is being conducted in Ogden Utah at 10:15. NS: This is what I remember of prohibition. The day that prohibition went into effect worldwide we were living quite close to the Becker Brewery Company. I guess early in the afternoon people started going down there for their last glass of good beer. By about 7:00 at night we were all sitting on the porch watching the procession heading for the brewery. Some would be going and some would be coming back. Those that were coming back with sacks in their arms of bottled beer. The procession went along until midnight and it became nationwide. At that time we’d seen enough and had gone to bed. It was soon after that when the bootleggers came in; if anybody wanted a drink, they were going to have it. Bootleggers sprung up all over town. One was very popular in Riverdale. I guess he had the best liquor. Down on Two-Bit Street they sprung up like mushrooms. My father-in-law being an electrician was called in to install a very complicated set of bells in each establishment so they could know who was coming in, that it was a customer and not the law. Evidently the law was getting a little payoff to let them stay in business. That wasn’t for sure but it was assumed. It was a very lively time and I think that our Two-Bit Street became known as one of the busiest streets on this side of the Mississippi River. I guess the most notorious. Those of us who couldn’t afford to go to the Speak Easies, we began making our own beer and wine, which was 1 putrid. Sometimes the beer would be—if we could let it ferment that long—at least twelve percent. Anybody drinking that was very happy. It was the same way with wine. Everybody was trying to make it and everybody had some. DR: You mentioned the place in Riverdale called Annie’s. What type of place was it? NS: It was a little farmhouse. Liquor was never consumed there. We went in after we were properly identified, she would sell to us. DR: How did they identify you? How did they know if it was okay for you to come in? NS: By knowing someone who knew someone we knew where to go. Annie’s was the place that we went because we did not go down on 25th Street. DR: Did she make the booze there or was it brought in from other places? NS: No because you can’t make whiskey unless you have a pretty good still. I’m sure it was brought in. There were rumors that she had a still there, but I don’t know. DR: The Becker Brewery—was this the only brewery in town before prohibition? NS: Becker Brewery was the only brewery ever. In Ogden. It was started by the two Becker boys who came over from Germany. They brought their own brew master there and they made good beer until prohibition when they could only have 3.2, then it wasn’t so good. DR: What percent was the beer before prohibition? NS: Six percent. When you get twelve percent…you make twelve percent beer first and then it’s cut down. There was always a certain amount of twelve percent beer that was bottled on the side. 2 DR: After the Becker Brewery closed down, was it used for anything or did it just sit there until they made it into a new bar? NS: I don’t know. When they sold out, the Fisher Brewery Company in Salt Lake bought it. I believe prior to that they tried to make just soft drinks. DR: How much bootlegging was actually going and how much did it cost? NS: I don’t know how much it cost, I never bought any. I was with people when they got it and they never had a problem getting it if they had the money. DR: How did the lights work in the Speakeasies to warn people? NS: It was a system of bells. They probably had a p-pole to be sure that it was a customer and not the law. If it were the law, they would have time, with the bells, to dispose of the liquor. DR: What happened if you were ever caught or an establishment was caught as a speakeasy? NS: I guess you went to jail. The still was confiscated and you probably received an adult sentence, which I doubt if you served. After prohibition was repealed nationally, Utah stayed a dry state. I don’t know for how many years. That’s when we had the Becker Brewery Company start making their 3.2 beer because that was the only contact that we could manufacture here. I don’t know how long Utah stayed dry, but the bootlegging still went on. People would go out of the state and buy a case of liquor and try to get back into the state without getting caught. DR: Did Becker Brewery just make beer for the Ogden area or did they ship it out to other states? 3 NS: They shipped it out of the state in the beginning when they were making their 6.0 beer. They did do a big business. I don’t know if they were very successful with the 3.2 beer. Becker Brewery had a brewery in Evanston, Wyoming where they were able to make their 6.0 beer. That was shipped out and it was a very good beer because they had good water and it takes good water to make a good beer. I also had some of their twelve percent beer up there. DR: Were they still making their twelve percent beer and shipping it out? NS: You can’t ship twelve percent beer out. The process of making it is all twelve percent beer. Then the alcohol content is cut. DR: There was probably a pretty good trade going between Ogden and Salt Lake and Evanston. NS: There was a lot of it that was brought in. People don’t care for the 3.2 beer, but that’s still all we can have in Utah, regardless of who makes the beer. The 3.2 beer is the only beer that can be shipped into Utah. In Idaho, quite by accident, a farmer found out that when his potatoes spoiled on him, the process that he came up with that he could make straight-grain alcohol, which was very potent. That went on even after prohibition was repealed but Utah was still dry. 4