{"id":132,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:32:00","latitude":40.58913989999999927249518805183470249176025390625,"longitude":-105.0754845000000159416231326758861541748046875,"title":"Bootlegging, Immigrants, and Crime in Prohibition-Era Fort Collins","subtitle":"","fullsize":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/3ab0e6698166c5e00fccc4a98c981820.jpg","address":"","all_locations":[],"zoom":17,"creator":["Caroline Cutshall, Alan Linenburger, Devan Walsh, and Matt Witczak, Colorado State University"],"description":"As a result of city-wide prohibition starting in 1896, crime rates in Fort Collins increased. Skirmishes between law enforcement and drunken residents were a common sight, and cases of illegal intoxication often resulted in incarceration into the town’s local “Drunk Tank” or “calaboose.&quot; Frequent distillery raids led to additional arrests.  According to an account from Larimer County Sheriff’s officer Orville Pollock Kelly, getting rid of the stills was the “main problem.” During the eight years he worked at the sheriff&#039;s office (1925-1933) he never witnessed or heard of anyone being shot in the capture of a whiskey still.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nImmigrants of Russian, German, and Histpanic descent had unique experiences during Fort Collins prohibition. Discrimination took many forms. For many, even making purchases at the grocery store was problematic, as only a select few stores would serve immigrants. Economic disparity between immigrants and white Americans in an already tight economy left some immigrant families seeking ways to augment their income. Some turned to the illicit manufacture and sale of alcohol. When asked what he remembered about bootlegging, lifelong Fort Collins resident Walter Salisbury recalled that the moonshining stills up in the foothills were largely operated by Mexican immigrants. Wages for these people were particularly poor, and discrimination allowed for very few advancement opportunities. Thus the “Bootlegger” scene in Fort Collins came to life, with an old race track located by what is now City Park serving as a “hot spot” of bootlegging activity. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nOne notable bootlegger, Cleofas Ambriz, held a daytime occupation as a sugar beet factory laborer but constructed his own still to help combat the poor living conditions. Ambriz explicitly made a point not to sell his moonshine to white members of the community for fear of the legal consequences should he be discovered. Eventually he was caught conducting business in Denver, which temporarily stalled his operations. However, Ambriz’s secret business resumed upon his return to Fort Collins. Salisbury recounted another instance when a Mexican moonshiner who lived near him was imprisoned the man’s son continued with running his father&#039;s bootlegging business. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nIn Fort Collins, alcohol was sometimes transported and sold through tunnels that ran beneath the streets of Old Town. In the early years of prohibition in Fort Collins (1884-1895), these tunnels were sometimes home to “sampling rooms,” defined as a “quiet, calm environment” where alcohol could be traded and purchased. Other cities in the intermountain west have similar stories, including, for example, Ogden Utah, which has legends of a city-wide tunnel network used for all manner of illicit activities.  <br />\r\n<br />\r\nIn 1933, federal prohibition was overturned, and 3.2% alcohol beer was legalized with the passage of the Cullen-Harrison Act. For Fort Collins, however, this was not the end of prohibition altogether, but rather a long period during which the community negotiated the degree to which alcohol should be a legal part Fort Collins life.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"By 1896, the Temperance Movement in Fort Collins celebrated the issuance of Ordinance No. 8 prohibiting the purchase, sale, and gifting of alcohol. The ordinance paved the way for years of crime, illicit trade, and legal conflict as bootleggers worked to meet Fort Collin&#039;s continuing demand for alcohol.","website":"","related_resources":["Beach, Tracy. The tunnels under our feet: Colorado’s forgotten hollow sidewalks. Boulder: Johnson Books, 2014.","Fleming, Barbara. Hidden History of Fort Collins. Colorado: Arcadia Publishing. 2017. The History Press. Colorado: Arcadia Publishing.","Juszak, Lori. Ghosts of Fort Collins. Colorado: Arcadia Publishing. 2012. The History Press. Colorado: Arcadia Publishing","Kelley, Orville Pollock. Boot Leggers, Cattle Rustlers, College Students, and Ordinary Drunks. By Jonathan Anderson. Poudre River Public Library District. July 19, 1974. Available at <a href=\"https://history.fcgov.com/anecdotes/9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https://history.fcgov.com/anecdotes/9</a>.","Mashburn, Tania. \"Do secret underground tunnels exist in Ogden?\" KSL.com. May 16, 2016. Accessed October 19, 2017. Available at <a href=\"https://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=39811533&nid=148&title=do-secret-underground-tunnels-exist-in-ogden\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=39811533&nid=148&title=do-secret-underground-tunnels-exist-in-ogden</a>.","National Register of Historic Places, Old Town Fort Collins, Fort Collins, Larimer County, Colorado, 78000871","Sailsbury, Walter. Bellview Voices Series. By David G. Clark. Fort Collins Public Library Public History Project. May 30, 1979. Available at <a href=\"http://database.history.fcgov.com/cdm/singleitem/collection/oh/id/806/rec/1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http://database.history.fcgov.com/cdm/singleitem/collection/oh/id/806/rec/1</a>.","Thomas, Adam. Hang your wagon to a star : Hispanics in Fort Collins. 1900-2000 A Historical Context. Westminster: SWCA Environmental Consultants, 2003. Available at <a href=\"http://database.history.fcgov.com/cdm/singleitem/collection/rb/id/8330/rec/8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http://database.history.fcgov.com/cdm/singleitem/collection/rb/id/8330/rec/8</a>","Udell, Erin. \"The dodgy history of Old Town's drunk tank.\" Coloradoan. September 12, 2017. Accessed October 30, 2017. <a href=\"http://www.coloradoan.com/story/entertainment/2017/09/12/history-old-town-fort-collins-drunk-tank-firehouse-alley/654041001/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http://www.coloradoan.com/story/entertainment/2017/09/12/history-old-town-fort-collins-drunk-tank-firehouse-alley/654041001/</a>.","Watrous, Ansel. History of Larimer County, Colorado. Fort Collins, CO: Courier Printing & Publishing Company, 1911."],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/3ab0e6698166c5e00fccc4a98c981820.jpg":{"id":543,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Moonshiner Still","description":"Three Larimer County police officers photographed with a seized moonshie still in 1927. | <a href=\"http://database.history.fcgov.com/cdm/singleitem/collection/ph/id/14234/rec/1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http://database.history.fcgov.com/cdm/singleitem/collection/ph/id/14234/rec/1</a>","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/3ab0e6698166c5e00fccc4a98c981820.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/3e0d55565cf23336c5577f76ef5dd152.jpg":{"id":544,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Whiskey Bottle","description":"Whiskey bottle labeled “Briarcliff Blended Whiskey” from 1934 when prohibition had ended on a federal level but was still in place in Fort Collins  | <a href=\"http://database.history.fcgov.com/cdm/singleitem/collection/ma/id/13862/rec/1\">http://database.history.fcgov.com/cdm/singleitem/collection/ma/id/13862/rec/1</a>","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/3e0d55565cf23336c5577f76ef5dd152.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/52d8f642c04c30d22cc994abbda7225e.jpg":{"id":545,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Portion of Map of Fort Collins, Colorado","description":"Digitized close up portion of 1910 map of Fort Collins, photographed with permission from Fort Collins Local History Archive, showing “Calaboose” aka the Drunk Tank between Walnut and Jefferson.  | <a href=\"http://database.history.fcgov.com/cdm/singleitem/collection/hm/id/1124/rec/9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http://database.history.fcgov.com/cdm/singleitem/collection/hm/id/1124/rec/9</a>","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/52d8f642c04c30d22cc994abbda7225e.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/51209e97f0f162b08195f6fa99f6ec6d.jpg":{"id":546,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Map of Fort Collins, Colorado","description":"Larger map of Fort Collins from the 1910s- this map provides context where the corner of Mountain Ave and Walnut (pictured in the zoomed in map) is in Fort Collins  | <a href=\"http://database.history.fcgov.com/cdm/singleitem/collection/hm/id/1124/rec/9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http://database.history.fcgov.com/cdm/singleitem/collection/hm/id/1124/rec/9</a>","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/51209e97f0f162b08195f6fa99f6ec6d.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/050b0b526f570e38b052b1254734a92c.jpg":{"id":547,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"The Drunk Tank","description":"A present day image of the Drunk Tank that stands in Old Firehouse Alley.  | Photo by Matthew Witczak.","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/050b0b526f570e38b052b1254734a92c.jpg"}}}