1918 photo

 Upon returning from the Great War, Ernest spent the winter of 1920 in northern Michigan, experiencing the 18th Amendment  after just returning from Europe, the setting of his first experiences with alcohol.  This sudden shock as the United States went dry affected Ernest, his writing, and his travels for years to come, and brings unique insight on his last long stay in Michigan.

Ernest Hemingway had his first taste of alcohol in Europe, serving in the Great War.  Lewis Clarahan, Hemingway’s friend in Oak Park, is quoted as saying, “For a while I was his best friend in high school and I never knew him to drink.”  This leads us to believe that Hemingway never drank during his youth in Michigan, and it was not until after the war that he was seen drinking by his friends and family back home.  “The first time I saw any liquor in the house,” recalls Carol Hemingway Gardner, Ernest’s younger sister, “was when Ernest came home from the war and the Italian-American organization came  out and gave him a great party and brought wine.”

During the Great War, the army banned drinking in order to give its soldiers a proper lesson in values.  Soldiers could not drink on bases or in uniform.  Ernest, at that time an ambulance driver for the Red Cross, began drinking when he was injured and stayed in a Milan hospital. Carol supposed that this was where he first got into the habit of drinking, stating, “I’m sure Ernest had quite a few drinks when he was in the hospital in Milan.”  One of Ernest’s wartime friends affirmed this, saying that Hemingway was often scolded by his nurse-turned-lover, Agnes von Kurowsky, for drinking while on the mend.

The Great Booze War

Entering the twentieth century, America’s views on alcohol seemed to be shifting.  Many counties across the nation began to go “dry,” prohibiting the sale and use of alcoholic beverages, including 36 of 83 Michigan counties.  The Anti-Saloon League, which had its start in 1893, was succeeding in all states.  By 1903, the league had gained political power in some states in the Great Lakes region, where it had its beginnings.  In 1913, the Anti-Saloon League launched an official political campaign calling for an amendment to the Constitution banning alcohol within the country.

When Hemingway returned to the northern Michigan area, Prohibition had already gone into effect.  According to Chris Struble, member of the Board of Directors for the Michigan Hemingway Society, the City Park Grill in Petoskey was one of Hemingway’s most frequented speakeasies.  The establishment’s web site claims that despite liquor being illegal, the restaurant boomed during Prohibition.  During Hemingway’s time in Petoskey, locals claim that the establishment still served in the basement, and that Ernest was a patron during his winter in the town.  At that time, the name was the Grill Café. Struble described underground tunnels leading from the speakeasy to the adjacent Cushman Hotel.

As the nation moved towards a conservative viewpoint, Hemingway, like many soldiers of the Great War, felt out of place in this new country.  After tasting and enjoying alcohol in Milan, Hemingway only felt a stronger urge to return to Europe after finding booze to be a precious, illegal commodity in his home country. After some months in Michigan, followed by time Chicago where he lived briefly with his first wife, Hemingway departed for the freer lifestyle of Paris.  Contrasting the United States at that time, France’s chief industries were wine and writing.  Ernest remained living outside of the U.S. until 1928, when he moved to Key West, Florida to take up deep sea fishing.   During this time, the fight against Prohibition raged on, causing large amounts of organized crime to form.  States became divided on the issue, and Prohibition was repealed with Amendment 21 in 1933.

During Prohibition, alcohol was still consumed in large quantities within the United States.  The alcohol came from two sources: home-produced and consumed beverages, and smuggled alcohol.  A large percent of the smuggled beverage was liquor, due to its higher relative value.  Beer and wine accounted for nearly all home-produced alcohol.  In Michigan, homebrewed beer was particularly popular among bootleggers.  Dozens of arrests were made, but persistent brewers risked it for their bitter, carbonated reward.  This banning of alcohol brought home brewing back into favor among drinkers, though the hobby had died out when commercial brewing had become common before its abolishment in the 18th Amendment.

Grand Rapids, among other Michigan cities, began to brew its own alcohol in basements and away from the eyes of law enforcement.  Doing so eventually caused the city problems with the mash, or by-product, was dumped into drains to avoid getting caught.  This clogged the sewers, and subsequently, an article was published in the Grand Rapids Press pleading with bootleggers to dispose of the mash elsewhere before the city had major sewage problems to deal with.

Because Michigan experienced Prohibition as early as 1918, with several dry counties before that, home brew was popular from then until 1920, when a more professional breed of lawbreakers entered the state.  Michigan was a hotspot for liquor running, and it is estimated that 75% of liquor entering the U.S. during Prohibition came from Canada into Michigan, particularly along the passage between Lake Erie and the St. Clair River.  This liquor was then moved by various criminal organizations and individual buyers around the country, usually right under the nose of law enforcement.

Photo by Emily Gremel, 2009
Hemingway’s residence in Petoskey,
and site of raisin wine making attempts.

Ernest Hemingway was no exception to the bootleg craze among drinkers experiencing Prohibition.  According to local Hemingway authorities, his house in Petoskey is the site of his first attempts at alcohol production.  He and some friends from the town attempted to produce raisin wine in the backyard, where they were quickly found out by the home owner who rented Ernest his room.  As far as we know, this was his only attempt to make his own alcohol during Prohibition in the United States.

The 18th Amendment was ratified in Michigan in January of 1919, one year before Ernest returned to the state after being away at war.  All but three of the 48 states passed the amendment by 1920, and the laws went into effect.  All over the country, anti-Prohibitionists had their last drinks.  In New York City, “all roads led to the booze store” on the last days before the amendment went into effect according to an article in the New York Times.

Across the state, members of the Anti-Saloon League were called by state and local officials to act as “volunteers” to help tip off violators of the amendment.  Grand Rapids officials feared that a majority of the liquor brought into Michigan would come from Chicago vacationers and criminals across Lake Michigan, but this was not the case.  Most of the smuggled alcohol came from Canada through Detroit.  Many bootleggers were reported to the police, and subsequently fined or jailed, but this legal action did not even put a dent in the amount of smuggling in Michigan at that time.

Ernest Hemingway wrote many short stories about his times in Michigan, and alcohol was a theme or device in several of these stories, including “The Three Day Blow” and “Up In Michigan”.  As Ernest is growing  up and experiencing alcohol for the first time, so is Nick Adams, Hemingway’s alter ego in his series of short stories set in northern Michigan.  Hemingway also addresses Prohibition in the novella, The Torrents of Spring. As Hemingway begins to write about Paris and other areas, alcohol continues to play a significant role in his writings, as it does in his own life.

"Up In Michigan"

As one of Hemingway’s first short stories, “Up In Michigan” is a crude representation of relationships between men and women.  Jim Gilmore, a blacksmith, is the love interest of Liz Coates, a local girl in Horton’s Bay.  Jim, upon returning from a hunting trip, gets drunk and takes advantage of Liz, changing her feelings for him from infatuation to fear and confusion.  This is Hemingway’s first literary critique of alcohol, and it is portrayed negatively.  Here, alcohol is seen as the catalyst causing Jim’s abuse of Liz. 

" The Three Day Blow"

In “The Three Day Blow,” Nick Adams is visiting his friend, Bill.  In this story, Nick and Bill are spending time together, talking and drinking.  Within the story, each man has at least five drinks before proclaiming that they should go outside, and that there is “no use getting drunk” according to Nick.  Despite this declaration, the men are already drunk.  Alcohol plays the role of loosening the tongue and allowing for dialogue about Nick’s former girlfriend, Marjorie.  Hemingway writes a realistic drunken scene between two men, and again uses alcohol as a catalyst for the conversation about what is actually bothering Nick.

Nick and Bill are drinking whiskey and scotch in this story, and its unclear whether this is during Prohibition, because they are drinking at home.  Due to the inconspicuous location of the beverages, it is suspected that they are not trying to hide their store of liquor, and that perhaps this takes place before Prohibition is in effect.

The men also have a curious discussion about what makes a drunkard.  According to Bill’s father, “opening bottles is what makes drunkards.” Drinking already opened bottles is just fine.  Nick finds this curious, because he always assumed that drinking alone was what caused a man to become an alcoholic.  Due to Nick’s altered state of mind, he takes both things into consideration with bemusement.  This depiction of drunkenness is consistent with Hemingway’s writing style of concise realism.

The Torrents of Spring

Alcohol is a reoccurring theme in this novella.  Hemingway starts the story with a description of Scripps O’Neil and his wife in Mancelona, whose only hobbies worth mentioning are to drink together.  This relationship fails within the first two chapters, as she up and leaves him while they are drunk together.  Hemingway may have been commenting that drinking together is not strong enough to hold a relationship together, or that it causes betrayal.

The most prominent mention of drinking in this tale is the Indian speakeasy which Yogi visits with two other Indians.  This illegal establishment is run by an African American bartender.  The location is similar to an actual speakeasy in Mancelona, which was frequented by Native Americans and ran by African Americans.  When Yogi is there, and the Indians discover he is white, he must leave immediately to avoid any potential harm.  Because bars were illegal during Prohibition, it is likely that each establishment had an air of paranoia and exclusiveness.  Hemingway’s descriptions in this scene seem accurate as a representation of a speakeasy, which have no need to exist in modern society.  This scene gives readers an interesting view of Michigan during Prohibition, and perhaps Hemingway’s own experiences with drinking under the 18th Amendment.

"Rum Runners"

Hemingway, during his time at the Toronto Star, published a story giving the facts on the rum trade from Canada during Prohibition.  He mixes the facts of the operation, stating that organized and unorganized, large and small operations alike have been moving mass quantities of whiskey into the country through Detroit, Michigan.  Hemingway’s personal writing style comes through in this article, as he makes mention of several different acquaintances he made who had interesting angles on his topic.  The people are mentioned almost as if they were old friends, rather than sources for his article.

The most surprising point in the article comes towards the end, when Hemingway gives a description of some kids he meets who are smuggling.  His final comment on this encounter is, “If the people who talk about ‘good liquor’ could see a kid drunk – but this isn’t a sermon.”  This flippant remark is a display of Hemingway’s own moral character, as he seems uncomfortable with minors getting drunk, but does not make a definitive statement of his opinion.  This leaves the reader wondering, “Is Hemingway for or against Prohibition?”  It isn’t until one looks at his life history that it becomes clear that Hemingway is no stranger to the drink, and probably left the country in search of a less conservative stance.