Beer drinkers in Alaska require no particular reason to enjoy a frosty mug, but they may nonetheless wish to raise a glass this month in honor of the 75th anniversary of the repeal of the Bone Dry Law. Prohibition in Alaska ended April 11, 1933, making legal, for the first time in 15 years, the sale and consumption of alcohol.
About two decades earlier, the temperance movement had reached Alaska and was gaining momentum. In 1915, Territorial Gov. John Strong noted the rising tide of support for prohibition and believed a vote of the people was necessary to decide the issue.
James Wickersham, Alaska's territorial delegate to Congress, ascribed the sentiment to discontent with the unruly, unkempt saloons that were a disgrace to every community where they operated.
The increasing political consciousness of women also proved a decisive factor in the prohibition cause. Alaska had granted women the right to vote in 1913 -- a full 7 years before the U.S. followed suit with the 19th Amendment -- and Strong believed a territory-wide referendum banning alcohol would pass easily with this new voting bloc squarely behind it.
The territorial Legislature put such a vote -- "as to whether or not intoxicating liquors shall be manufactured or sold in the Territory" -- before Alaskans in 1916. It passed by a more than 2-to-1 margin.
The Alaska Bone Dry Law took effect on Jan. 1, 1918. Two years later the 18th Amendment banned alcohol throughout the U.S.
In the ensuing decade, prohibition proved a failed experiment. Originally proposed as a solution to all manner of social problems tied to liquor consumption, the act succeeded only in spawning a whole new realm of criminal activity -- bootlegging, moonshining, and the attendant fraud and corruption in the illicit trade.
By 1933, the experiment was over. The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th, and states and territories were left to regulate their own liquor laws. One after another brought back booze. Alaskans may be either proud or ashamed, depending on your point of view, to know we were the second to end prohibition -- just a day after Michigan became the first.
Alaska officially repealed the Bone Dry Law on April 6, 1933. It is worth noting the act ended prohibition in Alaska for whites only. Strict anti-alcohol measures for Alaskan Natives, first put in place in 1867, remained in effect until 1953.
On April 11, the territorial Legislature enacted laws governing the manufacture and sale of alcohol, as well as licensing requirements for bars, restaurants, and hotels. That same day, Ketchikan Mayor John H. Davies became the first Alaskan to drink a fully legal beer. His pint bottle, which sold for 25 cents, was part of the first shipment of 10 cases shipped via boat from Seattle.
A week earlier, in anticipation of the big day, the Piggly Wiggly in Fairbanks took out an ad in the local newspaper that announced, "Due to Arrive -- Straight Carload -- Pabst Blue Ribbon BEER -- Place Orders Now For Early Delivery." Sadly for Fairbanksans, the shipment slated for delivery on April 17 didn't actually arrive until a week later. In Seattle, as throughout the country, demand was far outpacing supply.
The poor folks in Nome, however, faced a wait of at least two months. Only with the arrival of summer and thawing of the frozen Bering Sea would barges be able to reach the town. And in the interim? No problem, reported the Nome Nugget. Locals could simply rely on supplies of their "famous home brew" -- a tactic no doubt employed for the 15 years prior.
"We expect," the Nugget wrote, "the first steamers will be loaded to capacity because Alaskan frontier people like their beer, or what have you, on the hip."
Seventy-five years and not much has changed.
Ross Coen is a Fairbanksan who is now working as a congressional staffer in Washington, D.C.
By ROSS COEN