Heritage Atlas of Hastings County / Maps from the Heritage Atlas of Hastings County / Prohibition: Booze by boat and by train. Fast motorboats on Lake Ontario evaded the Coast Guard and beat the liquor laws during Prohibition. Rum-runners (actually transporting whisky and beer) travelled the length and breadth of the lake in the roughest of weather to reach their thirsty customers. These were some of the routes from Belleville. 1. Route to the Welland Canal and customers on Lake Erie at Buffalo and Cleveland. 2. Direct run across Lake Ontario to Rochester, landing on either side of the city. 3. Indirect run via transfer point on Main Duck Island to Henderson Harbour, Oswego and through the Oswego and Erie canals to Syracuse. 4. The “short-circuit” route, serving customers in Ontario at Cobourg, Port Hope, Oshawa, Toronto, Hamilton and Niagara Falls. 5. Legal shipments to French-owned St. Pierre and Miquelon in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 6. Disguised shipments by rail to Toronto and Hamilton.

Prohibition: Booze by boat and by train. Fast motorboats on Lake Ontario evaded the Coast Guard and beat the liquor laws during Prohibition. Rum-runners (actually transporting whisky and beer) travelled the length and breadth of the lake in the roughest of weather to reach their thirsty customers. These were some of the routes from Belleville. 1. Route to the Welland Canal and customers on Lake Erie at Buffalo and Cleveland. 2. Direct run across Lake Ontario to Rochester, landing on either side of the city. 3. Indirect run via transfer point on Main Duck Island to Henderson Harbour, Oswego and through the Oswego and Erie canals to Syracuse. 4. The “short-circuit” route, serving customers in Ontario at Cobourg, Port Hope, Oshawa, Toronto, Hamilton and Niagara Falls. 5. Legal shipments to French-owned St. Pierre and Miquelon in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 6. Disguised shipments by rail to Toronto and Hamilton.