The smugglers' trail

Praz-sur-Arly, due to its position on the edge of the two newly born departments of the Annexation, is ideally placed on the "line" border of the famous area. The ridges overlooking the village are all possible passages to sell goods resold up to six times their purchase price. Everything is good for this juicy trade: of course, the traditional “tobacco, coffee, sugar” brazenly cross the border; but also matches, cattle, poultry, clothing, haberdashery and other building materials… . The inhabitants benefiting from this envious situation will indulge in a dangerous but fruitful traffic on both sides of the border lines: smuggling is organized, significantly improving the rather frugal ordinary of the inhabitants of our harsh mountain countries. In 1923, France put an end to this situation of privileges enjoyed by northern Savoy by abolishing the Grande Zone and putting the customs posts back on the state borders. So, on the Val d'Arly side, smuggling no longer has a reason to exist, the mountain pasture chalets resume their role as precarious shelters for pastoral life; the time of hiding places for the junk to be sold on the other side of the line is well over. The steep slopes regain their tranquility and "the smuggling paths have turned into ski slopes now generating legal profits"