I remember this house from the 20s. Elber Hagenfeld lived here at that time and he lived here until his death. I used to help him during prohibition. In the back of Elber's house was a building in which he made moonshine. He had quite an elaborate set up. Me and 3 others worked for him for a period of about 8 years. We did no technical work. He had his secret recipes even down to the wood that he used to make the fire. Only he could provide wood for the fire. He had a combination of wood that when burned in a certain proportion would produce no smoke. There were 4 piles of logs and we had to put these logs on the fire in a certain proportion. This was important because of detection.

Elber was never arrested but I think most people knew what he was doing. He owned about 70 acres on both sides of the tracks. The tracks were very important to his operation. His operation was not large by any means but the quality of his shine was so high that it was one of the most sought after illegal products of the time. We figured that was the reason that he was never arrested. The people with the power wanted his shine and so they made sure he could produce it. He would get letters from people about how wonderful his 'product' was. He would have me read them because I was the only one of the 5 of us that could read. He got a letter one time signed by Al. I always wondered if that was Al Capone. We figured that it was these notorious and important people that kept Elber operating. They wanted his high quality shine.

The railroad was very important to his operation. This was his distribution network. Elber produced about 200-300 quarts a week at his prime. He sold them for $2 each. He didn't believe in banks either but we will discuss that later. The train would stop at Alta for water. The water tank was about a quarter mile north Elber's place and conveniently an open boxcar would be right at the house. We would load the cases of shine in a wooden container that was located in the boxcar. Jim Harbrin, Tom Allen and Roy Pilar would load the cases onto the boxcar and I would pack them in to a container. Also in the boxcar would be some supplies that Elber would need. These supplies were always in closed containers and we never knew what they were. He was very secretive about his process and the ingredients required.

We would load 15 to 25 boxes of the shine. There were 10 bottles in each box. We would unload box after box of other stuff left for us. We never knew what it was. We assumed that in one of those boxes that we unloaded was the payment for the shine. The boxes that we unloaded had a white number written on them and we were to put each number at a certain location in the storage shed. Our loading and unloading took place around midnight on Thursdays.

I made $30 a week and the others made $25. I was the boss. Our pay was always in a leather pouch that was also in the boxcar. That pouch had the initials VVR on the front. I never did know what that meant. I would open the pouch and take out the money and leave the pouch. We knew Elber had a lot of money someplace but we never knew where. He had no family and he very seldom left his home place. We always figured he buried his money but we didn't really know. One time I walked in on him getting out some money from a box. The box was about the size of a large suitcase and was covered with tin. It was filled with money. He didn't know that I was there and I just stood and gasped at the sight of all that money. I worked for him from 1922 until 1930. And we never failed to produce a batch of shine.

In October of 1930 I was walking to Elber's house and I saw the sheriff's car there. I hid behind some bushes and waited to see what was going on. In about an hour a panel wagon came. I moved closer to the house and saw them load Elber into the wagon. He was on a stretcher. I later found out he was dead. I don't know how the sheriff found out that there was a problem or knew that Elber was dead but he was there. I don't know what happened to Elber's money. It may still be buried in the yard if it ever was. The river occasionally flooded there and maybe the river picked it up and delivered it to some needy person farther south. I never heard anything about the money. The still never operated again. No one knew the recipe. That next spring the building was torn down but they left the house but I don't think anyone ever lived in it again.