Fall River Stills? Pesky Moonshiners Revealed in Small Northern California Town
*Happy April Fool’s Day! This article is part of the Active NorCal April Fool’s Day Extravaganza. Don’t @ us.
The tiny town of Fall River Mills (Eastern Shasta County) has a dark secret.
As you head east over the hill from neighboring Burney, the landscape opens up to reveal the stunning beauty of Fall River Valley, widely known for agriculture, wide open skies, great fly fishing and surprisingly, dad jokes.
Underneath this seemingly-innocent veneer burbles the high-octane connection this little country town has with pre-Prohibition Kentucky.
“My wife makes moonshine,” declared one Fall River resident who preferred to remain nameless in Active NorCal, “but I love her still.”
But isn’t making bootleg liquor against the law, we asked. Aren’t you afraid of being arrested?
“Yeah, we keep an eye out for revenuers,” he added. “Running liquor is a whiskey business.”
Though most Fall River residents prefer to keep their little enterprise a secret, there have been a few who have lobbied to change the name of their town to “Fall River,” ah, “Stills.”
