Canadian Border Has Traffic Jams When Cheaper U.S. Bars Close : Foreign Trade Can’t Get Much Freer Than in Two Towns Called ‘Soo’

Foreign trade could not be much freer than in the Twin Saults, the two cities with the same name separated by the 2 1/2-mile breadth of the St. Marys River and flying different flags.

Americans and Canadians go back and forth across the border in droves to buy bread, have babies or drink beer, without a worry about tariffs or quotas.

“We call it jumping across the big ditch,” Canadian steel worker Richard Shurtliffe said.

$1 Beer Draws Canadians

On Wednesdays after work, Shurtliffe and his buddies cross the river from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, to the $1-a-beer bars in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. Canadian brew tastes better, but American suds are cheaper, Shurtliffe says.

Beer isn’t the only bargain.

Canada’s dairy prices, for instance, are jacked up by a farm support system that is unlikely to change even under the country’s free-trade agreements with the United States. No matter, Shurtliffe says. He buys American.

Not only does he buy U.S. milk for his grandchildren, he fills his pickup truck with U.S. gasoline and his refrigerator with U.S. steaks.

Even Canadian cigarettes are cheaper in U.S. stores.

Cheaper in Michigan

“It’s an awful savings,” Shurtliffe said. “It seems everything’s cheaper in Michigan.”

It is commerce without national loyalty. In the Sault (pronounce it soo ), many American women have their American babies in Canada and tourists buy their Canadian souvenirs in the United States.

The biggest traffic jams at Canada customs are at 2:30 a.m., when the U.S. bars close and Canadians go home.

Customs agent Giacomo Pastore has seen the happy drivers line up for as long as 45-minute waits at the border crossing into Canada.

“It’s a ritual,” he said.

“It’s an awful pile of Canadians,” Shurtliffe said.

Towns Not Identical

Locals call them the Twin Saults or the Two Saults, but these cities on opposite sides of the Soo shipping locks are anything but identical.

Historical markers on the U.S. side tell of the treaty taking northern Michigan from the Chippewa Indians. A plaque on Canadian soil remembers the shameful “Chicoro Incident” of 1870, when the United States refused to let a Canadian military ship pass through the U.S. locks. The Canadians had to walk around the St. Marys rapids.

Ontario’s Sault is six times the size of Michigan’s. The Ontario town of 83,000 has a steel mill, paper mill and a large shopping mall. Its downtown Queen Street is dotted with upscale china shops.

Also, it has more movie theaters, a lower drinking age and two strip clubs, Michigan teen-ager Dean Newcomb noted.

Tourism a Big Industry

Michigan’s Sault is a quiet home to 14,500 people, many of whom don’t lock their doors. Summer tourism is the major industry. Winter snow is the biggest occurence. Along a three-block drive of kitsch shops, visitors can buy blue wind chimes from Taiwan and T-shirts that say Canada.

Canada?

“It’s hard to buy a Canadian souvenir in their Sault,” Bob Smith, owner of a block of such tourist emporiums as Ships Ahoy, Captains Quarters and the Anchor and Seven Seas motels, explained. “This is where the tourists shop.”

Since the signing of the free-trade pact between the two countries, the easy commerce between the Saults has become even freer and easier.

“It seems to have opened up the gate,” said Patrick Shannon, the Chippewa County prosecutor on the Michigan side. “Trade hasn’t changed, but all of a sudden the Canadians have realized they can go shopping on our side. Crossing the border isn’t such an issue any more.”

Law Enforcement Problem

That’s a problem. Law enforcement in Sault, Mich., used to be a personal matter. You knew who was having a family fight and who was driving home from the bar.

With so many people crossing over these days, the town is full of strangers. “We don’t know who we’re dealing with anymore,” Shannon said.

Not all of the foreign trade is faring well.

American insurance companies have put a crimp in the once-booming business of delivering babies in Ontario. Ten years ago, as many as 20% of the women patients of an Ontario obstetrician, Dr. T. Orr, were Americans drawn by the more-specialized services available in Ontario.

Now, with U.S. Medicare and many insurance companies refusing to pay for health care outside the United States, foreigners make up only 8% of Orr’s practice.

‘Border Math’

Because the banks and bars, tourist centers and tollgates all set their own exchange rates, commerce between the Saults can get complicated. Those who cross frequently must master “border math.”

Shurtliffe’s wife, Ruth, for example, can figure which is cheaper: gasoline at 54 cents Canadian per liter or $1.21 American per gallon. That is considering also that her Canadian dollar currently buys only 80 cents American and she has to pay $1.50 to drive across the International Bridge.

It can get so confusing that many businesses accept the other country’s currency, even if it isn’t legal tender. A Canadian dollar will buy as much beer at David Dear’s Back Door bar as a U.S. greenback.

“After all, we are the Twin Saults,” Dear said. More than half of his customers are Canadians.

Double Financial Whammy

With the American dollar worth more at the moment, U.S. residents who forget to exchange their money for Canadian suffer a double whammy. Not only do most Canadian businesses take U.S. currency at the lower Canadian value, but Canadian prices often are higher.

“There is an advantage of having the right money on the right side at the right time,” said Linda Sumner, a Michigan tourist from Livonia.

Grant Putman, a farmer from Williamston, Mich., got caught in a Canadian restaurant with hungry kids and only U.S. cash in his wallet. He paid American and bought his food for 15% more than true cost.

“Of course, the waitress gave me my change in Canadian, so I was out there, too,” Putman said.

“I got even. I tipped her in Canadian.”