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the grain smugglers

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    the grain smugglers

    Quote from Interesting Places In Sask. (some things never change)

    A little known sidelight from Saskatchewan history is the story of the
    border grain smugglers. These men were respectable hard working farmers
    from Claydon to Val Marie along highway 46. The lure that enticed them
    into crime was the difference of .10c a bushel for grain
    During the depression when .25 cents could buy a full meal and $5.00
    would rent a house for a month, earnings were not measured in dollars
    per hour but in the actual possession of cash Thus, when a farmer from
    Bracken discovered that American elevators were paying 10 cents a bushel
    more for wheat than local elevators were paying he loaded his grain
    wagon and slipped over the Medicine Line. (border) It was illegal,for
    all grain had to be sold through Canadian agencies. Soon others were
    following suit and a elaborate spy system went into effect to keep track
    of the RCMP and border patrols. The round trip took 4-5 days, but the
    important factor was that each wagon of grain brought in between 80 and
    100 additional dollars.Cold cash was more important than time spent. Of
    course no monuments will ever memorialize the grain smugglers of
    Southern Saskatchewan. Pity

    #2
    I can hear it now, "just because those people are close to the border it isn't fair to the rest of us that they can get more for their products!". I guess it isn't fair that some people still have mineral rights on their property - they need to share with me. It isn't fair that some farmers have land west of calgary that is selling for millions per quarter - they need to share with me.

    Sometimes luck sets us up for life, sometimes it doesn't. Life isn't fair.

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