Sheriff Potts and the moonshiners

Washington's ban on the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages became effective in 1916, making the state one of 33 that banned alcohol before the 18th Amendment to the Constitution made it illegal nationwide in 1919. This story is taken from the March 3, 1921, edition of the Mason County Journal. (Prohibition was repealed nationwide in 1933.)

In mid-March 1921, Mason County Sheriff Ralph Potts and his deputies, aided by federal officers, raided two moonshine distilleries that were in active operation in Mason County. They took the operators into custody and confiscated a large quantity o...