In the northwest of Scotland, the homeland of whisky, there’s a place called the Isle of Lewis.
It’s culturally distinct even from the rest of Scotland, with a current population of about 18,000—smaller than Jeju Island. In the first half of the 20th century, two disasters hit this region: WWI, where many young men died, and Prohibition (1920–1933)????
It’s not like this place is the Isle of Islay, the 'whisky holy land' Haruki Murakami talked about. Their only distillery wasn't even built until 2008, so what does Prohibition have to do with it?
The reason is this fish: the herring.
One of the residents' main sources of income was salted herring used as bar snacks, but demand for it plummeted because of Prohibition.
For the women of Lewis, gutting herring was almost their only source of employment. When that work suddenly vanished, it was a total bolt from the blue.
It was a time of literal food shortages. Thousands left the island to the point that local newspapers ran editorials worrying about the extinction of the region.
Among those swept up in that tide was an island girl named Mary Anne. Born as the youngest of 10 children with the most common surname on the island, MacLeod, 18-year-old Mary Anne spent four years as a domestic worker after finishing her compulsory education. She was from the village of Tong—which currently has about 500 residents—located further inland from the island's center, Stornoway.
(This is apparently what a typical household in that region looked like back then.) She was a Gaelic speaker—a language even other Scots need interpreters for—so she likely only learned English once she started school. She was a single woman with nothing but her youth to her name.
After successfully applying for a US visa to work as a maid, she crossed the Atlantic with her sister, carrying her entire life savings of $50.
Six years later, she married a wealthy New York businessman named Fred Trump. Today’s 'World Server Admin' is her son...?? Ah, so in the end, it was your 'carry' again? Of course, some people call this kind of thing a 'fated timeline.'
The local Lewis newspaper, which used to worry about the youth leaving, eventually reported the news of the local girl getting married across the ocean. After the marriage, Fred Trump built a Tudor-style house for his wife.
There’s a story that the Tudor-style mansion was the symbol of a luxurious life, modeled after a house on the hill across the bay from Mary Anne’s hometown harbor. Source: Sing-geul-beong-geul Earth Gallery [View Original]
"Users are blown away by the butterfly effect where a herring shortage caused by Prohibition eventually led to the birth of Donald Trump. Some are just here for the 'World Server Admin' memes."
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