Sumas, a friendly agricultural community, is Whatcom County’s last stop eastbound toward the Canada border with British Columbia. With a modern population of just over 1,500, the town boasts a colorful history marked by international relations, a gold rush, and even a popular rodeo.
The Cowichan Tribes, a First Nations band, named Sumas for a word meaning “land without trees.” Additionally, the Nooksack people have occupied the region for millennia into the present. “Sumas City” became an incorporated town on June 18, 1891, after its first settler, Robert Johnson, arrived in 1872.
Today, Sumas Historical Society and Museum documents the town’s history for regional visitors and many crossing the border. President Lizette Custer and Secretary Helen Solem have curated a collection of signage, artifacts, documents, and more.
“I think Sumas has a very rich heritage from its inception,” says Solem. “It’s been a happening place because we’re on the border. We have a fairly good collection of photographs and some materials for our exhibits. We’re growing tremendously.”
The museum occupies one of several historic buildings, formerly a youth center and a church. “I’d say our collection is eclectic,” Custer adds. “We have notebooks with family histories and old pictures that people can come in and see, because we have very limited staffing and it’s volunteer.”
Visitors can enjoy educational and walking tours that vividly put the surrounding historic buildings and miner statues into perspective.
History of Sumas
Sumas saw its first boom with the 1891 arrival of three railroads: the Seattle Lake Shore and Eastern, Bellingham Bay and British Columbia, and Canadian Pacific. As museum photos show, Sumas started as a tent city and grew to an estimated 2,000 people, with some squatting in tents at the edges of town.
“The railroads were the really large event when the roads came to town,” says Custer. “Schools followed close behind. It went from a small little country, one-room school to a three-story-high bell tower school. And the farms and the businesses followed.”
After the panic of 1893 had busted this boom, the Mount Baker Gold Rush of 1897 reinvigorated it. Town co-founders Jack Post, Russ Lambert, and Luman Van Valkenburg discovered gold at Mount Baker and staked a claim called the Lone Jack Mine. Sumas supplied over 2,000 prospectors at the Lone Jack, Boundary Red Mountain, Gargett, and Excelsior Mines. The boom only lasted that year, but the mines produced for decades.
One of Sumas’ most impressive surviving structures is the Old Customs Building: the customs office from 1891 to 1914 after the crossing’s relocation. In an unlikely twist, the Audubon Society and Sierra Legal Defense Fund saved the building from demolition in 1988 because a rare bird, the Vaux’s Swift, roosts in its chimney. However, many historic buildings have been lost.
“The biggest consistent event in Sumas’ history is the flooding,” says Solem. “And we have very few of our magnificent old buildings left because so many of them are flooded out and were too costly to repair.”
Local Character in Sumas
As a border town, Sumas has an interesting caveat: three blocks or roughly 800 feet are north of the 49th parallel! Surveying errors in 1857 caused this oversight, and although the 2002 State v. Norman ruling recognized Washington’s boundaries as historically extending past the parallel, the “Canada strip” is mostly a funny footnote to locals.
“We are the first place people see when they come to the United States,” says Solem. “We are the last place they see when they leave it, and it’s all because of the border crossing. We have our major highway that goes straight through town. We have two to three million people a year coming through our town.”
The “Sumas Roundup” rodeo attracted tens of thousands of American and Canadian tourists between 1923 and 1940, surviving a 1930-1936 cancellation during the Great Depression. Cowboys and cowgirls competed in horse races, roping, and bucking with the motto “See ‘Em Buck!”
Today, Sumas visitors not only pass through but also connect with the tight-knit community.
“We get people that are crossing the border that are from Europe, as well as other places,” says Custer. “We get families that had some kind of tie to Sumas, and they come back and meet and exchange information here. We have people just going through who saw the sign. We have local people who are looking for information on their homes.”
Remembering the Border Boomtown
Tourists can support the Sumas Historical Society and Museum by donating and attending events as they seek additional locations.
“That’s actually why we were looking at the historic building, because we want to do a tourist center, and that would be perfect,” says Custer. “It’s right next to City Hall, it’s the main street. But until then, we have a space here in the museum for tourist information.”
The museum’s Facebook page keeps visitors updated on current hours and upcoming events.
“I think our number one goal is to provide a sense of place so that when people live here, this is their home,” says Solem.
With the quiet streets and “Canada strip” of historic landmarks to discover, Sumas continues to call its history home.
Sumas Historical Society and Museum
114 2nd Street, Sumas
