Blaine Joins the Dry Ranks
Following Lynden's lead, the city of Blaine closes its saloons, leaving the border town without a drop of legal spirits.
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Blaine proposes to follow in Lynden's footsteps and cut out the saloons. The council this last week refused to grant any new licenses, and as all licenses have expired, that means a dry town. The booze fighters say that there will be plenty of liquor sold just across the line in Canada, but the Blaine temperance workers have the promise of the Canadian authorities that no licenses will be granted there as long as Blaine remains on the dry list. Lynden is no longer lonesome in the county; there is Nooksack, which has always been dry, Everson and Blaine keeping her company on the water wagon.
“Lynden is no longer lonesome in the county. There is Nooksack, which has always been dry, Everson and Blaine keeping her company on the water wagon.”
The 'dry' town movement was a powerful civic force in early 20th-century Washington, reflecting a deep moral divide over local control. Today, the debate over alcohol has shifted from complete prohibition to zoning and the proliferation of craft breweries, yet the impulse to legislate local character through licensing remains a constant in Lynden's civic life.
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