When the US and Canadian governments decided the border between our two countries, a few places got left on the “wrong” side of the line. Those places are called exclaves. On the west coast, Point Roberts became one of those places.
Show Notes:
Image Courtesy pointswithacrew.com
Episode Transcript:
Welcome to Brain Junk. I’m Trace Kerr, and I’m Amy Barton and this is a Brain Storm.
AB: We’re going to do a geography lesson today. Yay. Today we’re talking about exclaves. I don’t know if that’s the right tone of voice for a geography lesson.
TK: Did you say exclaves?
AB: Yes, I did.
TK: Oh, okay.
AB: Probably the opposite of an enclave, but I did not bother to Google enclave or find a dictionary. An exclave is a portion of territory of one state completely surrounded by territory of another.
TK: Ah, okay. So there’s like a town of the United States that’s in Canada.
AB: That’s the one.
TK: Oh my gosh, is it?
AB: Now, I’m a little surprised. Trace is from the coast, everybody. Well, I say the coast. Anybody who lives in Seattle is not on the coast west to by five to me is the coast or somewhere within like 20 miles of I5 you’re the coast, everybody.
TK: That’s true.
AB: That side of the mountains, pretty much anything on the other side of the pass to me, that’s true. So this is an area that dates back to 1846 when the UK and the u s settled the Pacific northwest American Canadian border dispute. But you didn’t know that was a thing that sounds fancy. There was a treaty and they pretty much got their ruler out and just shot line across Washington State. So 49th parallel. That’s us. They did not pay attention to the little bloop of land that is out in the sound. And that comes down from Canada is not connected to the US at all.
TK: Oh.
AB: And so they’re looking at that. They’re like, Huh, well, you guys can still have that. It’s fine. So we have it and there’s discussion over the years on and off repeatedly, like this doesn’t work super great. What do we think now it’s ours. It just stays ours.
TK: So what is this place called because…
AB: Oh! Point Roberts, I’m sorry. Point Roberts, Washington, everybody. So Washington State, we’re in the upper left. The population as of 2010 was about 1300 folks in the summer. They get up to about 4,500. Um Point Roberts is out in Boundary Bay, not attached to the US at all. You have to drive Bellingham drive to Blaine, Washington and then you’d head up over and around.
TK: Got It.
AB: Cross into Canada and back out of Canada into the US again, it’s about a 40 minute drive.
TK: Wow.
AB: No ferry system.
TK: None.
AB: No. You could take your private boat and there’s no ferry that goes from there.
TK: Nope.
AB: Oh No. So because 1500 people maybe no, they don’t get a ferry.
TK: That’s true.
AB: And infrastructure is a little challenging because their seat of government is in Washington State proper over in Whatcom County and they’re a bit of an afterthought, it sounds like as far as they worked for I think two years to get a stoplight because it’s like you’re so far away to represent the needs you have to prove and they’re so little. They’re school children. There’s a k through three school in 2017 there where students and one nice teacher who taught a k three Combo class.
