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
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
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