Fourteen Saloons, One Deadline: The Dry Sweep Up the Wenatchee
A Kittitas County deputy shut down unlicensed liquor dealers from the Wenatchee River to Cascade City—then set his sights on eight holdouts in Okanogan.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Deputy Sheriff Arthur has closed up fourteen saloons which have long been running in Kittitas County without license. The illicit liquor dealers were located all the way up the Wenatchee River to Cascade City. Each saloon man was given a stated time in which to procure a county license, quit the scene, or suffer subsequent prosecution. An officer was left to patrol the line and see that no more whisky was dispensed until those engaged in the traffic conformed with the law. Eight saloons on the Okanogan side are yet running in full blast contrary to law, and are taking long chances rather than to pay the $800 license required in that county.
“Each saloon man was given a stated time in which to procure a county license, quit the scene, or suffer subsequent prosecution.”
Washington’s liquor-license battles were really fights over local power: who paid, who enforced, and which communities got to stay wet. The same questions—license fees, rural enforcement, and the cost of doing business—still shape debates over alcohol regulation today.
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