Ghost Town, Saskatchewan: Whitetail, Montana: Photo Essay

If you cross at a ghost town, getting into the USA is really, really easy

Whitetail, Montana is a small village located just south of the USA/Canada border. It’s also the name of a border checkpoint that has been decommissioned by both countries.

A ghost town border crossing, if you will.

According to Wikipedia, “the small checkpoint along Montana’s border with Canada, which served about three travelers every day, was set to receive $15 million for upgrades under President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan.”

CNN’s reports cite the amount at $8.5 million.

Regardless, the term “boondoggle” immediately comes to mind.

According to notes on the Federal Register from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the checkpoint’s annual crossing average between 2007 and 2009 was 1,261 cars and 57 trucks, with the port’s total annual operating cost of $492,000.

It cost “the taxpayers of the United States in excess of $373 for each vehicle to cross at Whitetail.”

Nowadays there is massive cement roadblock to keep out international riffraff. There aren’t any border guards, and the office has long been gutted and shutdown.

There was also an abandoned BBQ. It didn’t work.

The checkpoint was officially decommissioned on January 25, 2013.

But, if you bring a bike or a longboard, you could in theory make it across the border illegally. Just sayin’.

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