You find a segment from an old history book.

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History Of

East Falls Docks

1800-1900

During the early to mid-19th century, what is now East Falls was originally a massive forest that surrounded what was originally a wetland that while wide was only around three feet deep. Early settlers of East Falls made a small set of docks along the wetlands that later would eventually become the docks.  While these settlers had hoped to make a living off of fishing, it was uncommon to ever fish anything up, thus making the job eventually obsolete. In the only instances where fish were caught, they had severe deformities as documented by these early fishermen. It is unknown why fishing was difficult for the early settlers of East Falls, and unfortunately, as a result, drove many away from the area to look for better-settling places. 

1901-1919

While fishing had failed from an economic standpoint, the town has prospered in other areas such as mining and farming. During this time people still avoided the wetlands for fear that what had caused the fish to deform would affect the local population. The only one who would stay near the wetlands was a man named Clarence Brooks, who had sworn that the wetlands was a safe place and that anyone who disagreed was a coward. However, much to the fear of the people he too became deformed by turning into a hunch-back. 

Due to the lack of proper documentation, it is debated if Clarence Brooks had ever existed or if he was an old-wives tale made up by parents to keep their kids away from the area. 

1920-1929

During the early 20th century, there was a change in the U.S. system that caused not only East Falls to begin to dabble into criminality, but most of Wyoming as well. This change was the Prohibition, which started in 1920. The Prohibition was an addition to the U.S. Constitution that illegalized the manufacture and trade of alcohol. During this time many places started to do a practice known as moonshining, where moonshiners would produce their own alcohol and sell it to nearby areas. One of the biggest places to do so was Wyoming and especially East Falls.

While at the start the transportation would be by road, taking a long journey from the mountains nearby all the way to East Falls, eventually the moonshiners got together and discussed a much better route; cutting through the wetlands instead. Some did oppose this idea, citing Clarence Brooks in the process, but a majority agreed to use the wetlands as no one ever dared go near the area, making it a perfect smuggling place away from prying eyes. 

In an ironic twist of fate to keep people even further away, some of these moonshiners would keep reciting the tale and even dress up in costume to scare away locals, claiming to be Clarence Brooks. Making the might-be-myth into a reality. They even took it a step further and labeled the brand of their spirits as ‘C. Brooks’. Doing so made discussing the illegal drinks much easier as the local population would be none the wiser. 

The 1920s saw an even bigger change for these moonshiners, as the state of Wyoming enacted the Riverton Reclamation Project. This project aimed to change many sets of natural water in Wyoming into proper lakes and rivers for proper irrigation, with the wetlands being one of them. The old docks in this process were demolished and a set of new, proper docks had started being constructed. 

While this change had halted the progress of these moonshiners for a while, when it was done in 1922 it made crossing the large expanse of the area even easier. It also made people more inclined to try and fish despite the use of the Clarence Brooks tale, a problem at first to the moonshiners. However, it proved to be an even better disguise as now they could sail using fisherman boats and no one would be the wiser. 

Initially, there wasn’t much money to be made during this time, but the end of the decade would change that. 1929 started the Great Depression, which saw many turning to crime just to keep themselves alive. What started as petty thievery soon turned into organized crime at the start of the 1930s. 

1930-1939

As The Prohibition dragged on, and the Great Depression just starting, a lot of folks in East Falls saw great opportunities with some joining organized crime and others forming their own gangs who joined the smuggling ring of the moonshine. 

This economic success would not fully last, however, as The Prohibition ended in 1933. As many of the people relied on this to make their money, instead of disbanding they pivoted to smuggling other goods instead. Unregistered guns, illegal substances, or even information all found their way into being smuggled during this time. It also caused a lot of gang fighting as well, to where certain gangs had claimed spots of the docks and they were constantly fighting with one another. 

There was an instance where some police officers were even involved in these crimes. Two brothers in particular are documented due to their trial Levard vs. Wyoming in 1934. The trial outlined just how bad the situation was for East Falls, with around 42% of the population being involved in organized crime. What was worse was due to the standing of these two officers within the crime-filled town, they were found as non-guilty even with mountains of evidence against them. The officer who filed a report on the two brothers was also removed from the records, seeming to never have existed in the first place. 

This all came to its head at the start of World War II and the end of the Great Depression. Due to the sheer amount of violence and loss of friends, family, and loved ones most had left their criminal times behind them as it became far easier to find work. 

1940-1960

From the start of World War II, the criminal side of the docks saw a great pause for a while as the community who had initially all fought one another, came together due to their shared experiences with losing loved ones to the war which was only stacking day after day. The community even celebrated together at the market stalls at the docks on the day it was announced that World War II was over. With many sharing drinks and making merry with dancing. 

As the 50s rolled around, the criminality pause around the docks continued, though at a much slower rate. The population was still small due to both World War II and the Vietnam War which was coming up. The community that came together during hardships just as quickly evaporated when times were better, with gangs who had been around since the 30s still trying to use any last bit of power they had to control the docks. 

1970-Modern Day (1984)

Still at a relatively slow pace, once the population started to pick up again so did the crime, with illegal goods being smuggled just alongside good ones. 

Today, it is hard to know just how many people are involved with the criminal side of East Falls, but the general consensus seems to be too many for the town to handle, with the PD and other systems doing their best to keep up and uphold the town.