Why So Many Plum Trees In Black Diamond?

No doubt our community still has more than the normal assortment of plum trees planted in resident's yards compared to other communities, but nowhere near what it used to be.  According to Howard and Dorthy Botts, most every home had a virtual grove of plum trees in the back yard.  For fruit?  Well, not exactly - wine and italian brandy, otherwise known as grappa, is more to the point.

Grappa today is made by distilling pomace and grape residue, mainly the skins but also stems and seeds left over from the wine making process.  Execpt that early in the century, wine in our area was typically made from plums and the residue from this process became a form of Italian grappa - powerful stuff ranging from 60 to 120 proof.  This is the brandy referred to in my earlier post about "Black Mary" and the bootlegging history of our community.

If you are looking for holiday gift selections, I highly recommend giving copies of the book "Black Diamond - Mining the Memories".  It provides an interesting oral history of our community's heritage and is quite entertaining, including the nearly 8 pages devoted to the role that bootlegging played in our history.  To quote Carl Steiert, "Our second industry here was bootlegging.  Sometimes I think it was number one. On Friday and Saturday nights, half of Seattle and Tacoma would be here".  To get a copy, just stop by the Black Diamond Historical Museum.  Its a great gift, fun read with some interesting historical photos.

For the most part, the local plum harvest was for family consumption - Italian plum wines being an important part of the diet.  Innocent and all in the family.  However, as we saw with "Black Mary", there were exceptions that went further.  Quoting from an article believed to have been published in 1921 from the Seattle PI, "Deputy Sherriffs Herbert Beebe, Fred Brown and Matt Starwich raided Joe Premonsnick's ranch in Black Diamond.  25 gallons of white liquor distilled from raisin grape brandy were confiscated."  Apparently Mr. Premonsnick was able to accomplish this distilling using just a "tea kettle, wash boiler, tub and with a link of slide trombone".  Now that's ingenuity!

What wasn't ingenuous, however, was that Mr. Premonsnick was raided in the first place.  The protocols at the time required that the feds first contact the sherriff before any raid was to take place.  For those in "good standing", they would receive notice of a raid well in advance and thus be able to hide the stash.  There were some interesting hiding places, I am told, including using an outhouse.  Oh my.

So apparently Black Mary and Mr. Premonsnick somehow got on the wrong side of the sherriff, which ultimately led to their downfall. 

The next time you visit the Museum, I encourage you to visit the room set aside for display of the "special implements" used at the time.

Plum wine or Grappa anyone?

 

Comments

[Bob]

Yes on the wine, no on the Grappa. Grappa is the closest thing to kerosene that I have tasted. (Please don’t ask how I know what kerosene tastes like.)

[Craig]

I guess Grappa must be an acquired taste.

[Golden Plum Sorbet Fruit]

Great to have plum tree in home ...Very usefull too!!!I hope Grappa will give a best taste ...https://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=batch_download&send_id=817789614&email=7cff47bb7cdcb76fbfa15e66c81a1961 I have tasted this ..let me also try no more time ..Its looks so fresh and tasty!!!

[Cheap Coach Bags]

If your daughter volunteers to clean you house, you can't point out to her, the way you could when she was a teenager, the dust she missed!