Down in the Fraser estuary
I like to watch migrating birds,
And think upon their sanctuary
And how this blessing did occur:
And I know for all them southbound geese it’s
No stopping at the border line;
Just like a speedboat called the Skeezix,
Back in Prohibition time.
Henry Reifel and George his son
Were local distillers, and win or lose,
They gambled on the satisfaction
Of Yankee thirst with Canadian booze.
The Skeezix was their boat designed
For this trade by William Watts;
With diesel and two aircraft engines
She could plane at forty knots.
And the Reifels bought those Fraser marshes
To hide the Skeezix at the river mouth;
They’d load her cargo ‘midst the rushes,
Rev her up and head her south.
Packed to the gunn’ls with Reifel’s liquor
They’d run the Skeezix ‘cross the line;
The cutters were quick but she was quicker
When those aircraft engines whined
And so the Reifels built a fortune
‘Til Prohibition’s end occurred;
No longer needing all that marshland,
They made a pledge to migrating birds.
Now down in the Reifel Sanctuary
The Skeezix is by few recall’d;
And the birds don’t care their aviary
Was saved by bootleg alcohol!
And I know for all them southbound geese,
It’s no stopping at the border line;
Just like the speedboat called the Skeezix,
Back in Prohibition time,
When those aircraft engines whined.