U.S. Border Station

Metaline Falls is a border town. In the early twentieth century, a rough wagon road led the dozen or so miles north into Canada, weaving in and out of forest to cross the international line. In 1923, the route improved when the state completed work on the road that eventually became State Route 31. Even then, the road saw little traffic, but it was enough that the U.S. Customs Service established an office in the Washington Hotel in Metaline Falls. During fiscal year 1929, for example, 3,268 vehicles carrying 9,265 passengers passed through customs.

In 1932, the U.S. government constructed an international border station north of Metaline Falls. The station is one of 48 land-based border stations built during the 1930s and the easternmost of Washington’s 13 stations. The building’s “Northern Style” design became a familiar one along the United States border with Canada. As opposed to the stucco “Southern Style” design along the Mexican border, the Metaline Falls station, and others like it built along the Canadian border during that period, has a steep pitched roof to shed rain and snow and features regional wood for framing and exterior finishes.

Over time, border traffic increased as roads improved and ever-growing numbers of North Americans owned cars. In 1939, the Trans-Canada Highway was built, which despite passing well to the north, increased automobile traffic at all Washington border crossings. Although trucks servicing both the logging and mining industries utilize the route, the industry that contributes the most to contemporary border traffic is tourism. State Route 31 is known as the International Selkirk Loop and is a favorite of sightseers drawn to destinations on both sides of the border.