All About Moonshine

"Moonshining as a trade, required only a few materials. Like other forms of alcohol distillation, it is quite simple in theory, yet difficult in practice. The four main ingredients include grain (usually corn meal, but sometimes wheat or rye), sugar, yeast, and water. Many recipes for moonshine exist but the essentials are to mix one quart of corn meal and one quart of  corn malt (sprouted corn) with five gallons of water. Allow this to ferment for seven days. One of the more colorful moonshiners in this area for many years was Le Roy Slaven (1916-1987). Le Roy learned to make shine from his father Cal and began drinking at age 16. He made moonshine with Jurdan Boyatt Jr. using Cal’s recipe for moonshine which is:

1 gallon - of Red Top Molasses
1 – 40 lb. bag of seed corn, soaked to swell up and after sprouting ground up into a mash.
25 lb. of sugar set all in a 55 gal. Barrel filled 2/3 full of water until fermented.
At this point the mash was cooked, the alcohol was driven off and then condensed and collected.


Date of Report: April 19, 2013
Number of Pages: 32
Order Number: G1356
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The Underground Railroad in American History

The primary purpose of this context is to assist in the identification of places associated with the Underground Railroad that are eligible for National Historic Landmark designation and for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. In 1990, the United States Congress authorized the National Park Service to conduct a study of the resources available nationally for the interpretation of the Underground Railroad. A special resource study published in 1995 determined that there were sufficient resources available and suggested a variety of approaches for commemoration of the Underground Railroad. Operating under the 1990 legislation, the National Park Service has produced educational materials and technical support for researchers. An Underground Railroad Handbook was published in February 1997, followed by “Exploring a Common Past: Researching the Underground Railroad.” This study provides historic context for the development of nominations for the Underground Railroad theme.

Identifying historic properties associated with the Underground Railroad is an extremely varied task. To help the researcher understand the various aspects of the Underground Railroad, this context is divided into sections that focus on a complex but related series of historical activities and geographic regions, referred to generally as the Underground Railroad. The term is capitalized to signal inclusiveness in that larger organizing concept. When used as a descriptive adjective or as a reference to some part of the concept, it is not capitalized.

This context is not exhaustive and it briefly reviews the history of slavery and of North American resistance to slavery, excluding Canada. It evaluates examples of structures, buildings, communities, regions and transportation routes related to fugitives from slavery. These examples do not encompass all the varieties of Underground Railroad activity that were ever enacted; no study could make that claim. However, this study provides a structure into which researchers may fit more information and evidence as it is developed. The report also describes aspects of antislavery activity and slave resistance which are precursors or marginal to the Underground Railroad story but which contribute to its emergence. This context study treats such events, often historically important in their own right, as connected but not central to the Underground Railroad story.

Date of Report: April 10, 2013
Number of Pages: 47
Order Number: G1351
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Researching Individual Native Americans at the National Archives

This book is designed to provide a framework for researching individual Native Americans at the National Archives. It is organized primarily by tribe. Each section lists available resources in chronological order and includes textual, microfilm, online, and published records and indexes.


Date of Report: April 10, 2013
Number of Pages: 46
Order Number: G1349
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Men on the Mountain: Ashley National Forest

On September 13, 1776, the United States of America was the World's newest nation. Not yet four months old, Washington's Army was being hard pressed in New York, and the future of a free nation looked grim indeed. On this same day in history, Daniel Boone and his stalwart followers were struggling to establish Boonesboro in the Kentucky wilderness. Barely a year old, the crude stockade and log cabins were on the edge of the western frontier, and the country beyond was full of mystery and foreboding to the American people.   But fifteen hundred miles to the west, a small party of men and horses had just crossed a river they recorded in their diary as the San Buenaventura. Dwarfed by the endless landscape of a rocky plain with protruding mesas and countless ravines, the ten men made their way southwest to a small tributary of the river, and then turned west across the empty waste. Over a month earlier, the little party had departed from the Catholic mission at Santa Fe, New Mexico. In charge were two Fransiscan friars, Francisco Antanasio Dominques, and the scribe, Silvestre Vales de Escalante. Seven other Spaniards and an Indian guide were also among the party.

The explorers had set out in answer to an appeal from the church to find a better route to the west coast mission at Monterey. What brought them this far north to the foot of the Uinta Mountains is not definitely known. The most vindicated theory is that they were looking for a westward flowing river that emptied into the Pacific near Monterey, and what was probably the San Joaquin or the Sacramento. The Spanish Fathers on the west coast had heard reports of such a river from the Indians, and had relayed this information to Santa Fe.

Their northern trek ended during the second week of September, and the spot where they camped and crossed the San Buenaventura (now called Green River) was named in their diary "Santa Cruz." At this spot stood six large "black poplars", and for many years, one of these trees bore an inscription made by the men. These were the first white men to ever lay eyes on what is now the Vernal Ranger District. They were the first to see the waters of Brush Creek and Ashley Creek, and in fact, described the latter as a narrow ribbon winding its way through the dry land. As they made their way west along the base of the Uinta Range, they must have wondered what treasures lay hidden on the green hills to the north which must remain for later explorers to discover.

Crossing the Wasatch Range, Dominques, Escalante and their men made their way down the mountains to what is now known as Utah Lake, and then turned south again. Discouraged by negative replies from Indians and other Spaniards, to questioning about the westward flowing river, the little party quarreled among themselves as to whether or not to strike out west across the bleak desert, or head southeast to Santa Fe. Better judgment prevailed, and the expedition returned to their mission without finding the new route to Monterey.

Date of Report: April 3, 2013
Number of Pages: 73
Order Number: G1345
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The Slave Trade as a Commercial Enterprise in Richmond, Virginia

The presence of slavery and the business of buying and selling bondsmen was an essential element in Richmond’s development as one of the preeminent cities in the south during the antebellum period. The city’s pivotal location in proximity to the agricultural fields of Tidewater and Southside Virginia, and North Carolina, the natural power source provided by the falls on the James River, and its accessibility as a shipping port and later as a railroad hub made Richmond an ideal place for manufacturing and exporting operations. Processing, marketing and exportation activities were concentrated near the James River around Shockoe Creek where Richmond was founded. Tobacco processing, flour milling, and iron production were prominent industries and the coalfields of Midlothian contributed yet another facet to the city’s wealth. In 1780, the Virginia state capital was moved from Williamsburg to Richmond further solidifying the city’s status as an industrial, political and economic center. Often overlooked in discussions of Richmond’s economic success in the antebellum period is the impact of the slave trade as a commercial enterprise. “In the 1850s, Richmond’s biggest business by dollar volume was not tobacco, flour, or iron, but slaves.”

The first Africans arrived in the British colonies in 1619 at Jamestown, Virginia. The great majority of imported slaves came directly from Africa but some were brought into the colonies from the West Indies. Their exact status as slave (lifetime service and inherited status) or servant is unclear but between 1640 and 1660 there is evidence of enslavement and by 1660 the concept of slavery was being solidified in the statute books of the colonies. “In the Chesapeake area (Virginia and Maryland) more than anywhere to the northward, the shortage of labor and the abundance of land…placed a premium on involuntary labor.” The cultivation of tobacco in this region “required labor which was cheap but not temporary, mobile but not independent, and tireless rather than skilled.” In 1649, it was estimated that there were 300 slaves in Virginia. The number had grown to 2,000 in 1671 and by 1721, slaves accounted for over 50% of Virginia’s total population. The 1780 United States census enumerated 292,627 slaves in Virginia.

Date of Report: April 2, 2013
Number of Pages: 13
Order Number: G1343
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