Toponymie | Canton de Potton | Place Names

The Canada Customs office at the border in Highwater was built in 1873.  Before that time, the Highwater office was situated in the railway station belonging to the Southeast Counties Junction Railway Company.  Since 1966, the customs office has been located at 500 feet from the actual border, on Route 243.  The first customs officer was Amos A. Mooney who served from 1873 to 1881.

Because of the length of territory abutting the border, Potton has had as many as five border offices: Lake Memphremagog Customs Office (1947-1970), Leadville Outstation Customs (1930-1970), Mansonville Highway Customs, Mansonville Customs House (1844-1970), Highwater Customs (1873).  Of these, only Highwater Customs remains.

Because of our proximity to the United States, many family and commercial relationships between this community and Vermont were a fact of life and there were many convenient little roads and paths crossing hill and dale.  The life of the customs officer was particularly interesting during the era of prohibition in the United States (1919-1933), when practically all roads and the lake were being used for bootleg smuggling.  The salary of the customs official may have been modest, however the revenues from the seizure of “merchandise” at 25% of the value seized supplemented the pay.  The same percentage was the rate for the cash reward for “anonymous” sources of information “leading to …”  It seems that being a “snitch” was a paying proposition – including amongst the bootleggers themselves, thus disproving the myth of honour among thieves!

The most well known bootleg smuggler of Potton was one Uriah Skinner, satirically nicknamed The Piratical Smuggler by John F. Tuck (1835-1928) in his historical satire.  There were many other poems about Skinner.  Skinner's intimate knowledge of Lake Memphremagog allowed him to dodge the authorities.  His prowess was legendary.  On the island bearing his name, Skinner apparently used the cave, accessible only by water, for warehousing and hiding his booty.  According to Tuck's satire, Skinner's own bones were purportedly discovered there many years later.^[1]

The Mansonville Customs House was established in 1844, in the Reilly House.  Mr. James H. McVey was the first Collector of Customs and Excise of Potton, a position he held until 1858.  This Canadian customs office was closed in 1870.

Note: Merton Bailey, the author of the original article from which the above was quoted, bears a surname which belongs with those of the Potton pioneering families.  Mr. Bailey, a lifelong resident of Potton, is descended from Jonathon Bailey (born in 1799 in Groton, Vt.) who came to Potton around 1835-39 and settled in North Potton.  Mr. Bailey, who recently celebrated his 90^th birthday, retired from Canada Customs in 1977.  His detailing of the History of the Canada Customs in Potton is a valuable chapter in our Municipality.  Others of the Jonathon Bailey family descendants still live in Potton, including Barbara Brouillette, long time assistant in the Mansonville Post Office, now retired; Joanne George, and Francis Young, descended from a long line of the Young family who came to this area from Ireland.