Idaho got a head start on Prohibition when it banned liquor in 1916. The nation followed suit four years later, but it was always about more than shots in a glass. It was about representation. It was about rebellion. And it was about the nation’s first reckoning with federal regulation gone wrong. From booze hidden in boots to bars smashed with hatchets, Prohibition brewed an overflow of illegal activity for more than a decade, and Idahoans were in on it.
In the new Idaho Experience documentary The Bootleggers: Idaho’s Prohibition Pioneers visit Idaho’s new underbelly bar named after Prohibition, discover the motivation behind America’s longest Main Street in Island Park, and meet Two Gun Hart.
“I spent weeks researching old books and records at the library looking for our local connection to the national issue of prohibition,” says producer Kris Millgate. “Al Capone was easy to find, but he was in Chicago. I wanted an Idaho connection so I kept digging. When I found Two Gun Hart, I knew we had a show. He was a federal agent busting illegal booze in Idaho a century ago and…he was Al Capone’s brother. Imagine the discussions at that family dinner table.”
“This is a chance to share a fascinating chapter of Idaho history, with effects that continue to shape our state to this day,” says Executive Producer Bill Manny.
The Bootleggers: Idaho’s Prohibition Pioneers airs Thursday, Sept. 14, at 8:30 PM and again on Sunday, Sept. 17, at 7:30 PM on Idaho Public Television. It will be available for free streaming on the PBS app and online at video.idahoptv.org.
Major funding for Idaho Experience is provided by the James and Barbara Cimino Foundation, Anne Voillequé and Louise Nelson, and Judy and Steve Meyer, with additional funding from the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation, the Friends of Idaho Public Television, the Idaho Public Television Endowment, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.