# International border at Point Roberts, WA/Delta BC **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 22, 2010, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-border-at-point-roberts-wa-delta-bc/533314 "2010-03-22T05:23:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-border-at-point-roberts-wa-delta-bc/533314/1 "2010-03-22T05:23:51Z")
Just wanted to share a fun view, courtesy of Google Maps. [This](http://s494.photobucket.com/albums/rr308/DeathB4D_Calf/Traveling%20the%20globe%20with%20Google/?action=view¤t=NorthintoBC.jpg) is looking north into Delta, BC. We’re also standing inside Canada since Point Roberts doesn’t have Street View. Now if we all turn around, we’ll see a [small house](http://s494.photobucket.com/albums/rr308/DeathB4D_Calf/?action=view¤t=LookingintoPointRobertsWAfromDeltaB.jpg) south of the border, which evidently is delimited by the same split rail fence that marks the property boundary. As I said, there’s no Street View south of the border yet, so we’re still standing in Canada. But judging from the attractive and rustic fence, including a little wicket gate that seems to be the portal between two great nations, I suppose we must concede that good fences make good neighbors! ---
**Author:** ![ThePylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@ThePylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThePylon)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-border-at-point-roberts-wa-delta-bc/533314/2 "2010-03-22T15:43:29Z")
Heh - I’ve walked back and forth over that “border” a few times on the beach. pre-“9/11”, of course. The % of the population that is actually American living in Pt Roberts amuses me… that little point must suck a fair amount of $$$ out of the US’s homeland security budget. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-border-at-point-roberts-wa-delta-bc/533314/3 "2010-03-22T17:33:28Z")
> [@ThePylon](#): > > Heh - I’ve walked back and forth over that “border” a few times on the beach. pre-“9/11”, of course. > > The % of the population that is actually American living in Pt Roberts amuses me… that little point must suck a fair amount of $$$ out of the US’s homeland security budget. You used to be able to do that between Mexico and the U.S., also on the beach. This was back in the late seventies when I was at UCSD. Back then, the INS didn’t think any major influx of illegal immigrants was going to come up that way. IIRC the first real checkpoint of any consequence was on the highway thirty miles north. Of course, that wasn’t counting the official crossings at San Ysidro and Otay Mesa, but in those days they’d just ask you what your citizenship was and wave you through. Probably it wasn’t so quick and easy for people who looked possibly Mexican, or didn’t speak English well, and so on. I do see one official border crossing station in Point Roberts, but do you mean that the rest of border there has been closed? Is there a fence of some kind? As far as I can see, much of the border here has streets running parallel to it, so there seems to be private property on either side. The location in my picture is one of the few that don’t, so it looks like whoever lives in that house can just mosey into Canada whenever, and find himself standing on a public street rather than someone’s back yard. I always imagined that border security at Point Roberts could be fairly lackadaisical, from the U.S. point of view, because it would make more sense to worry about the Surrey/Bellingham crossing, or any ferry routes originating in PR, if any. IIRC Vancouver to Seattle, our passports were inspected both before boarding the train, and once again on the train, which is routinely stopped for inspection at the border. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-border-at-point-roberts-wa-delta-bc/533314/4 "2010-03-23T07:41:38Z")
The border running through Point Roberts is not exactly a mine-laden DMZ. In this [photo](http://www.panoramio.com/photo/10229539) the street is in the USA and the condos are in Canada. [Here](http://www.panoramio.com/photo/23936539), the car is in the USA, the manhole is in Canada. Heavy border security on the [beach](http://www.panoramio.com/photo/8723384). ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-border-at-point-roberts-wa-delta-bc/533314/5 "2010-03-23T07:49:19Z")
[This](http://www.panoramio.com/photo/10166523) one is just across Boundary Bay from Point Roberts. USA one side, Canada the other. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-border-at-point-roberts-wa-delta-bc/533314/6 "2010-03-23T17:57:59Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > The border running through Point Roberts is not exactly a mine-laden DMZ. > > In this [photo](http://www.panoramio.com/photo/10229539) the street is in the USA and the condos are in Canada. True, but those are obviously the backs of the condos, seeing as they have U.S. addresses. The wooden fence is presumably the border. > [@](#): > > [Here](http://www.panoramio.com/photo/23936539), the car is in the USA, the manhole is in Canada. The yellow raised curb ensures that everyone knows where the 49th parallel is. I notice those black and yellow checkered signs seem to be used to mark the border as well. It reminds me of those signs on the freeway that tell you to slow down because the freeway is about to end. Only in this case, it’s “STOP. COUNTRY ENDING”. > [@](#): > > Heavy border security on the [beach](http://www.panoramio.com/photo/8723384). If they drew the line through this small peninsula, then I wonder why they didn’t keep the pencil moving right through Vancouver Island. Probably U.S./Canadian relations would be less cordial if that had happened, though. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-border-at-point-roberts-wa-delta-bc/533314/7 "2010-03-23T18:50:37Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > If they drew the line through this small peninsula, then I wonder why they didn’t keep the pencil moving right through Vancouver Island. Probably U.S./Canadian relations would be less cordial if that had happened, though. The Oregon treaty of 1846 defined the border in the Strait of Juan de Fuca through the major channel. I guess they did not want to cut Vancouver island in half, especially since Fort Victoria had already been founded on the Southern tip of the island in 1843 by James Douglas (pretty clever, eh?) There was some disagreement about what “major channel” actually meant though, leading to the tragic death [of a pig.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_war) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-border-at-point-roberts-wa-delta-bc/533314/8 "2010-03-24T13:31:11Z")
And over on the Vermont/Quebec border, [this building](http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=derby+line+vt&sll=51.500152,-0.126236&sspn=0.048408,0.131321&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Derby+Line,+Orleans,+Vermont,+United+States&ll=45.005517,-72.09839&spn=0,359.991792&z=17&layer=c&cbll=45.005507,-72.098521&panoid=dTTrw8MtVoXJNnoD2rymgg&cbp=12,67.35,,1,-9.06) is in two countries [at once](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haskell_Free_Library_and_Opera_House). ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-border-at-point-roberts-wa-delta-bc/533314/9 "2010-03-24T17:05:35Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > And over on the Vermont/Quebec border, [this building](http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=derby+line+vt&sll=51.500152,-0.126236&sspn=0.048408,0.131321&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Derby+Line,+Orleans,+Vermont,+United+States&ll=45.005517,-72.09839&spn=0,359.991792&z=17&layer=c&cbll=45.005507,-72.098521&panoid=dTTrw8MtVoXJNnoD2rymgg&cbp=12,67.35,,1,-9.06) is in two countries [at once](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haskell_Free_Library_and_Opera_House). Looking at only the first link, it appeared you were mistaken, but I see now that the line marking the border is a little north of where it should be. Which brings me to another thing I didn’t know; the border on the West Coast is farther north than the border here. This makes sense if you look at a map of the whole U.S. But culturally we think of New England as being “way up North” compared to the rest of the country. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-border-at-point-roberts-wa-delta-bc/533314/10 "2010-03-29T01:41:36Z")
Your second link is broken, and I can’t figure out how to make it work. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-border-at-point-roberts-wa-delta-bc/533314/11 "2010-03-29T02:02:08Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > I do see one official border crossing station in Point Roberts, but do you mean that the rest of border there has been closed? Is there a fence of some kind? As far as I can see, much of the border here has streets running parallel to it, so there seems to be private property on either side. The location in my picture is one of the few that don’t, so it looks like whoever lives in that house can just mosey into Canada whenever, and find himself standing on a public street rather than someone’s back yard. I finally went there last year. There’s one road in and one road out. There are border markers all along the side of the road that show where the US ends and Canada begins (or vice versa, depending on your point of view). The picture I have of one show the woods on the other side. (no fence, in the picture or in memory). The border crossing people on both sides were completely ok with “I just wanted to see” as a reason for my travel that day and “an hour or two, probably” as the length of my stay. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-border-at-point-roberts-wa-delta-bc/533314/12 "2010-03-29T02:27:49Z")
So is the border completely unprotected between Vermont and Quebec? From the map, it looks like there are several streets that just cross into Canada. How does that work with the new passport requirements that are supposed to be so strict? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-border-at-point-roberts-wa-delta-bc/533314/13 "2010-03-29T15:56:14Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Just wanted to share a fun view, courtesy of Google Maps. [This](http://s494.photobucket.com/albums/rr308/DeathB4D_Calf/Traveling%20the%20globe%20with%20Google/?action=view¤t=NorthintoBC.jpg) is looking north into Delta, BC. We’re also standing inside Canada since Point Roberts doesn’t have Street View. > > Now if we all turn around, we’ll see that the OP has fixed the [second link](http://s494.photobucket.com/albums/rr308/DeathB4D_Calf/?action=view¤t=LookingintoPointRobertsWAfromDeltaB.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-border-at-point-roberts-wa-delta-bc/533314/14 "2010-03-30T02:53:52Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > that the OP has fixed the [second link](http://s494.photobucket.com/albums/rr308/DeathB4D_Calf/?action=view¤t=LookingintoPointRobertsWAfromDeltaB.jpg). Cool pic - glad you fixed it. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-border-at-point-roberts-wa-delta-bc/533314/15 "2010-03-30T15:12:53Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > So is the border completely unprotected between Vermont and Quebec? From the map, it looks like there are several streets that just cross into Canada. How does that work with the new passport requirements that are supposed to be so strict? Some explanations can be found [here](http://www.clui.org/lotl/v29/m.html).