The Port Huron–Sarnia Border Crossing connects the cities of

Port Huron, Michigan Port Huron is a city in and seat of government of St. Clair County, Michigan, United States. The population was 28,983 at the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the west by Port Huron Township, but the two are administered autonomously. Po ...

and

Sarnia, Ontario Sarnia is a city in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. It had a Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population of 72,047, and is the largest city on Lake Huron. Sarnia is located on the eastern bank of the junction between the Upper and Lower Great Lakes, ...

. It is located at the

Blue Water Bridge The Blue Water Bridge is a twin-span international bridge across the St. Clair River that links Port Huron, Michigan, United States, and Point Edward, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Water Bridge connects Highway 402 in Ontario with both Interst ...

at the

St. Clair River The St. Clair River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed November 7, 2011 river in central North America which flows from Lake Huron into Lake St. Clair, forming part ...

. Both the US and Canada border stations are open 24 hours per day. The

US Customs and Border Protection United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border guard, border ...

upgraded its inspection facilities in 2011, and

Canada Border Services Agency The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA; , ''ASFC'') is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border guard, border control (i.e. protection and surveillance), immigration enforcement, and Customs, customs services in Canada. ...

upgraded its facilities in 2012. In 2017, inspectors at Port Huron processed 1,579,646 cars and 826,288 trucks.

History

The US Port of Entry was established in 1836, when a license to provide commercial ferry service between Port Huron and what then was known as Port Sarnia. The license was issued to a Canadian man named Crampton who operated a sailboat. In the 1840s, a man named Davenport, also from Port Sarnia, operated a pony-powered vessel. Steam-powered vessels and paddle-wheelers soon followed, but the first vessel capable of carrying automobiles didn't arrive until 1921. In the 1860s, the

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; ) was a Rail transport, railway system that operated in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the List of states and territories of the United States, American sta ...

built a

chain ferry A cable ferry (including the types chain ferry, swing ferry, floating bridge, or punt) is a ferry that is guided (and in many cases propelled) across a river or large body of water by cables connected to both shores. Early cable ferries often ...

to take train cars carrying immigrants and cargo across the border. The chain over the river posed problems, and at one point the ferry collided with a steamboat and drifted downstream some ways before being rescued. In August 1872 it was replaced with a

train ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry Railroad car, railway vehicles, as well as their cargoes and passengers. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with Track (rail transport), railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the f ...

, the ''International''. In 1891, the

St. Clair Tunnel The St. Clair Tunnel is the name for two separate rail tunnels which were built under the St. Clair River between Sarnia, Ontario and Port Huron, Michigan. The original, opened in 1891 and used until it was replaced by a new larger tunnel in 1994, ...

was completed, allowing trains to cross the border underground. It was electrified in 1907. Most immigrants who entered Port Huron in the 19th century continued their trip to the Midwest through a train depot where

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...

sold newspapers as a child. This depot, which was also famous for

confidence trick A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence, irrespons ...

s during Edison's childhood, has been since been reconstructed as Thomas Edison Depot Museum. The

was completed in October, 1938, and the ferry operations ceased less than a year later. New passenger-only ferry service ran from 1946 to 1957. A second, parallel span of the bridge was completed in 1997.

Border control and records

Prior to 1893, Port Huron was essentially an

open border An open border is a border that enables Freedom of movement, free movement of people and often of goods between jurisdictions with no restrictions on movement and is lacking a border control. A border may be an open border due to intentional leg ...

. While products were inspected and taxed, there was no control on the flow of people, and in fact in February 1886 the Department of the Treasury ordered the Bureau of Customs to cease even local attempts to count the number of immigrants. In 1893, the US Immigration Service began inspecting Port Huron-bound European immigrants in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, but there was no confirmation done at the ferry ports on the St. Clair River. The

United States Border Patrol The United States Border Patrol (USBP) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and is responsible for secu ...

was established in 1924, providing firmer immigration control, but Canadian citizens were not considered immigrants until 1965 and did not need a visa to cross the border for an indefinite stay. Record keeping and hygiene screening began around 1902. Border control is currently managed at

tollbooth A tollbooth (or toll booth) is an enclosure placed along a toll road that is used for the purpose of collecting a Toll (fee), toll from passing traffic. A structure consisting of several tollbooths placed next to each other is called a toll p ...

s on either side of the Blue Water Bridge, while international ferry service has been discontinued.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Port Huron-Sarnia Border Crossing Canada–United States border crossings

History

Border control and records

See also

References