Editing Detroit River (section)

===Prohibition===
{{Further|Rum-running in Windsor}}
From 1920 to 1933, the United States (US) enforced the [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition era]]. The sale, manufacture, and transportation of [[alcoholic beverages|alcohol]] for consumption were nationally banned. Detroit, as the largest city bordering Canada, where alcohol remained legal during Prohibition, became the center of a new industry known as [[rum-running]], smuggling liquor into the US.

No bridges connected Ontario, Canada and Michigan, US, until the [[Ambassador Bridge]] was finished in 1929 and the [[Detroit–Windsor Tunnel]] in 1930. Smugglers used boats of varying sizes to transport alcohol across the river during the summer, and during the winter months, rum-runners traveled back and forth across the frozen Detroit River by car. In some cases, overloaded cars fell through the ice. In the 21st century, car parts from this era are occasionally still found on the bottom of the river.<ref name=":0" /> [[Rum-running in Windsor]] and production of bootleg liquor became common practices. American mobsters such as [[the Purple Gang]] of Detroit used violence to control the route known as the "Detroit-Windsor Funnel," and continue to gain lucrative returns from the trade. The name parodied the newly built tunnel between the cities and nations.<ref>{{Cite web |first = Mark |last = Gribben |url = http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/gang/purple/1.html |year = 2008 |title = The Purple Gang: Bootlegger's Paradise |access-date = June 16, 2009 }}</ref> The Detroit River, [[Lake St. Clair]], and the [[St. Clair River]] are estimated to have carried 75% of all liquor smuggled into the United States during Prohibition. Government officials were unable or unwilling to deter the flow.

The rum-running industry died when prohibition was repealed in 1933 by the [[Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twenty-first Amendment]].<ref name=detnews/><ref>{{Cite book |first = Michael D. |last = LaFaive |first2 = Patrick |last2 = Fleenor |first3 = Todd |last3 = Nesbit |chapter-url = http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=10016 |date = December 3, 2008 |chapter = Appendix B: Prohibition in Michigan and the Avenue de Booze |title = Cigarette Taxes and Smuggling: A Statistical Analysis and Historical Review |access-date = June 16, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |first = Philip |last = Mason |url = http://www.michiganhistorymagazine.com/extra/2008/marapr/couldnt_get_drink.html |date = Sep–Oct 1994 |title = Anyone Who Couldn't Get a Drink Wasn't Tryin' |work = Michigan History |access-date = June 16, 2009 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090805093913/http://www.michiganhistorymagazine.com/extra/2008/marapr/couldnt_get_drink.html |archive-date = August 5, 2009 }}</ref>