On this date in 1909, North Dakota faced a major change as a new law had just gone into effect that meant “forty rod whiskey” – and other adulterated consumables – were now a thing of the past. Professor E.F. Ladd of the North Dakota Agricultural College had helped write the pure food and drug law. It called for the elimination of dangerous additives. There were now penalties for anyone making or selling food that didn’t meet legal standards. That included liquor.
As early as 1820 a chemist wrote a book called A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons. 82 years later, in 1902, Professor Ladd began his crusade against adulterated food. At the time, there were no regulations about additives. Manufacturers used a wide variety of substances to increase profits. Milk often contained chalk or plaster, which were also used to bulk up flour. Dirt and sand were added to coffee, tea, and spices. Common additives also included copper sulfate, borax, sulfuric acid, and formaldehyde. Medicines known as “snake oil” contained cocaine, opium, and heroin. These were widely available and came with no warning labels.
And liquor! The list of ingredients added to liquor was legendary. Recipes included grain alcohol, tobacco, red chilis, strychnine, lead, and rattlesnake heads. It is no wonder that liquor bore names like White Lightning, Taos Lightning, Red-Eye and Rot Gut. Forty Rod Whiskey got its name because it was said the whiskey could kill at that distance.
The Ward County Independent newspaper reported with pleasure that the day of “adulterated squirrel juice, seasoned with strychnine – and given that beautiful color with chocolate – is nearly over in North Dakota.” No longer would anyone be able to acquire orange cider that “never even saw an orange peeling.” And someone looking for a beer could find one that was pure and simple.
All of this is particularly interesting since North Dakota at the time was a dry state – the sale of alcohol banned. The newspaper seemed to assume that bootleggers who felt inclined to break the law by selling liquor would somehow feel compelled to obey the purity law -- producing a product without the dangerous additives.
Dakota Datebook by Carole Butcher
Sources:
Ward County Independent. Minot ND. 1 July 1909. Page 2, Column 1.
History Channel. “History Stories.” https://www.history.com/news/food-fraud-a-brief-history-of-the-adulteration-of-food Accessed 31 May 2019.
True West. “What is Forty Rod Whiskey?” https://truewestmagazine.com/what-is-forty-rod-whiskey/ Accessed 31 May 2019.
