The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1907-01-23
Geographical
PeculiariieS


/ of liquor, and 10 and behold, he is
given a free ride both ways for the
price of his drink. Such enterprise is
! certainly novel, If nothing else.
| stores Planted ON boundary.
| Undoubtedly the most extraordinary
sulting from what are known MS the
: international stores. These places are
scattered all along the line between
the United States and Canada from
Vancouver to New Brunswick. Most
| of them are maintained with the in
| tention of evading the laws of both
| countries, especially in the sale of
| spirituous liquors one of the most
noted of these is located near Fort
| Covington. The boundary line runs
diagonally through the store and splits
the bar right in two. When a GUS
toner appears. the bartender sets the
bottle on his side of the boundary line,
and the patron draws it across the
counter, thereby taking it out Of the
country. which relieves the bartender
of any fault
The proprietor of this place Is Il
!
| ing his business for 20 years without
interruption. In order to secure con-
viction, the government making the
prosecution must have an accurate
survey made and prove beyond doubt
just the exact spot where each man
stood and where each bottle was
placed. That this is almost an impos-
sibility the governments of both coun-
! tries have found to their sorrow on
several occasions.
The goods on the shelves of the store
are kept on the side belonging to the
country where they are bought. In the
course of a day hundreds of dollars
worth of merchandise is disposed Of,
part from Canada and part from
America. The proprietor commands a
large trade and secures greater profit
than ordinary merchants doing bust
ness on either side Of the line. He does
not insist upon his customers telling
him where they are from, merely re-
curing that they pay cash and take
their purchases away with them.
One slip Proves Costly.
Little attempt is made by the offic-
ials to stop the traffic. for the reason
| that it is almost impossible to prove
Just where the goods were bought.
variation of one or two inches in where
a customer was standing would change
the whole status of a given case. How
ever, there was one occasion when the
Canadian government secured a con-
vction. careless clerk left a can OF
American spices on the Canadian side
of the counter for minute while he
turned his back to do something else.
Just then a Canadian customs officer
happened in and found the dutiable
goods on the queens domain. For this
one instance of carelessness on the
part of his clerk the proprietor had to
pay $50.
The twin cities OF st. Paul and Min
neapolis are the result of peculiar
geographical conditions. They are
both located in Minnesota. are within
ten miles Of each other and are con-
nected by street car lines belonging to
the same company. The separation of
these cities Is due to the Falls OF 81.
Anthony. st. Paul is the oldest an6
was established below the falls for
the convenience OF shippers. Minne-
apolis was located above them to take
advantage Of the water power.
st. Paul and Minneapolis.
The first reasons for locating the
Twin Cities still predominate. one be-
ing a jobbing town and the other
manufacturing center. Minneapolis Is
the larger, but st. Paul is the most i'm
portant from political standpoint,
especially in it's relation to North Da-
kota. This state has two parallel
lines of railroad running across 1t, but
only one intersecting line. Conse-
quently 1t is easier for North Dakotans
to get to St. Paul than to any part OF
their own state, so that city witnesses
the deliberations of most of their
politicians.
Mississippi is unique in that 1t Is one
of the old states of the Union which
has no city Memphis, Tenn, is the
metropolis for the northern part of
Mississippi. and New Orleans, La,
serves like purpose for the southern
part of the state.