Issues → March/April 2009 → Features →
United States/Canada Border
(page 8 of 9)
He doesn't want me to use his name, but he tells me about trucks that come up this road sometimes, usually at night, and at the gate they meet other trucks, from Canada. Goods are exchanged. He watches from his window. The Border Patrol has asked for his cooperation in letting them know when things happen. Cameras and sensors bristle up the telephone pole and on the gate, he tells me: "A big animal can't cross the line without them knowing it." Helicopters hover at least once a day, and agents park out in his field. "Before 9/11, you came and went as you pleased," he says. "No one cared, no one cared!"
He and his family used to drive down the now-blocked-off road to fix the roofs on the farmhouses only a mile away. Now they travel long distances just to reach the other part of their farm. Yes, there have been many changes. "During Prohibition, they looked the other way," he notes, "even when this station was open." He speaks to me from behind sunglasses; he occasionally takes his ball cap off, smooths his white hair, and settles the cap back on his head. He tells me stories about friends who got lost, wandered across the border, and were arrested, had their cars impounded.
"Smuggling is old hat around here. Anything that's better, one side or the other, people find a way to pass it over the border," he says. "Or at least they always used to. Now it's harder."
Continuing south toward the Canadian towns of McAdam and St. Croix, I plan to cross over there into Vanceboro, Maine, in Washington County. When I reached McAdam, I see a sign for a picnic table. It's a long way over dirt roads, but once I'm on the path, I follow it to the end, which turns out to be a big, broad lake called Spednic.
Picnic tables edge the water. I carry my lunch to a table. If I'd planned a picnic beside a wilderness lake, I couldn't have had more beautiful weather for it. The sun is hot, the sky blue. Beside the table is a big boulder with trees growing on it, roots twining, searching the rock for nourishment.
My eyes travel to the top of the boulder. A small white obelisk--an International Boundary marker! I've studied the map so closely in search of the border and now here I am, sitting right on it. There isn't another person in sight or sound. I get up from the table and walk to the water's edge, crossing pleasurably from Canada into America, no passport required.
In Calais, Maine, about 30 miles farther south, I cross over to the larger city of St. Stephen, New Brunswick, a place that was popular for a while with busloads of American seniors, who found they could buy prescription drugs more cheaply in Canada. Large drugstore outlets were built in St. Stephen, a phenomenon that changed with the shift in currency rates.
Here, in many ways, the two countries acted as one. Not only did they birth each other's babies, but police and fire departments worked jointly, and familiar faces were routinely waved through the border checks. In Calais, the bridge across leads directly onto St. Stephen's main street, just as in the north, the bridge in Madawaska leads to the bigger city of Edmundston.
This shared border allowed these communities to coexist and to blend almost into one. Now, however, crossing the bridge has become a long wait in line and a nightmare of downtown traffic congestion as idling cars block commerce on the main streets.
Reader Comments
Comment from JANE A REEL on April 5, 2009
Thank you for an intriguing story. I had never really thought about the issues connected to our border with Canada. Some of the things Edie Clark encountered highlight the mystery . On a topic unrelated to the story, I can't imagine living in such a remote area. This story gave me a lot to think about.
Comment from Ronald Donett on April 10, 2009
This was a very thought provoking article. This is only my opinion,but to me the worst tragedy since 9/11 is how society in general has changed. I am now 60 years of age and it just seems to me that we used to live in a world where people in general loved and cared for one another. Now,it is more of a 'me first' attitude on the part of many people. You can say hello to someone and they will drop their head and act as if you are not even there. I have gone different places and someone will go ahead of you through a door and not hold it for you. Isn't it sad? The article about the New England - Canada border only magnifies how the society that we live in has drastically changed. The one thing that I take comfort in knowing is that in time,goodness always triumphs over evil.
Comment from chris hall on April 15, 2009
the Border creates more problems than it solves. it needs to be done with.
Comment from Sandra Basgall on April 26, 2009
EastportMaine was settled in 1780, incorporated in 1798. It was seized by the British in 1814 but in 1818 was returned to the United States through the Treaty of Ghent. Fort Sullivan at Eastport, built in 1810, had a meteoric life - only four years later, on July 11,1814 when a British fleet of a dozen warships of 200 guns with troop transports hove into sight, the fort?s six officers and 80 men surrendered upon demand.
Comment from Jim Crosbie on May 27, 2009
Your article was both interesting and sad. I'm 61 and have travelled back and forth to Prince Edward Island and the Maritimes since I was born. My Mom was born on a farm in P.E.I. and I have loved visiting our "Home from Away". It is such a sad commentary on our society in general that we now fear everything and everyone. After 9/11 our government overreacted as they usually do and brought fear and uncertainty instead of calm and thoughtful actions to deal with the tragedy of 9/11. Our age of innocence is gone forever.
Comment from Andy Grossman on August 14, 2009
I have been at the Derby Line/Rock Island border a half dozen times over the past 45 years; the freezing of the border in recent years is a great pity. Some years ago I researched border issues and was told that US Customs tries to buy up and demolish houses that straddle the border. One hopes that the Haskell Free Library will avoid that fate. Another anomaly I was told about was that -- at least in the days before the "Carte soleil" [Quebec health insurance scheme ID card] -- the clinic in Newport VT was the closest maternity facility and many Quebeckers from the area were born there, thus being dual nationals. Then there were those families in houses straddling the border who had to make Grandma sleep on one side or the other to get SSI (from Social Security) or Canadian Old Age Security, each of which has a residence qualification. Finally there was the matter of the Quebec sovereignty movement, and the "francisation" program that preceded it -- linguistically separating Quebec from "the other". My company, a (tiny) Quebec corporation, had to change its name into French even though it did no business in that province and its name became unpronounceable except to somebody who is bilingual and logical nonsense in either language. For what it's worth I always get a bigger smile from the Canadian border police when I speak to them in French; the identity crisis will not go away.
Comment from NAOMI BIGELOW on December 21, 2009
Yo boy, am I homesick now. After seven years in the White Mountains and a lot of trips west and east again, small adventures when I took off alone and drove up into Quebec, through the Eastern Townships and across Ontario to Michigan and back to NH, I felt so comfortable with traveling alone in Canada. I'd memorized many local landmarks in both provinces and knew where the nice places were to stop for coffee or a meal. Now, because my passport has expired, my easy zip across from Port Huron/Sarnia and through the southern Ontario peninsula will have to be a much longer and less relaxing trip around the Great Lakes and across. I hate it. I have a great deal of affection for my old route; I feel at home when reaching Derby Line. What a bummer. It is just so sad that our cultures have to clash in ways that most of us would rather not see happen. I consider myself a citizen of the world and Canadians as just some more of the distant cousins (and I do have a lot of ancestors who immigrated to Canada from Europe rather than the US).
And to Andy Grossman: Yep; I made the mistake of asking an Ontario Provincial police officer stationed in Coaticook (in English) if he spoke English, because I knew my French was too limited to ask for the information that I needed. Stiff as a ramrod he inquired in French if I spoke French. (I'd forgotten about the Francophone/Anglaisphone(sic) contention and it's passionate division of the population. I replied with a pitiful attempt to convince him in his language that, "Ma Francais is tree petite and tres mal." (Sorry, best I could do!) I was completely convinced and immediately inquired in flawless and professional English, "How may I help you?" Oh for the day when people are just people.
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