Sumas, Washington

Sumas is a small town in Whatcom County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,307 at the 2010 census. Sumas is located adjacent to the Canadian border and borders the city of Abbotsford, British Columbia. The Sumas-Huntingdon port of entry at the north end of State Route 9 operates 24 hours a day. Sumas shares Nooksack Valley School District with the towns of Nooksack and Everson.

Sumas is the northernmost settlement in the state of Washington, and experiences Astronomical Twilight for 22 days during the months of June and July.

History

Sumas was officially incorporated on June 18, 1891. Established first as a trading post in the late 1850s, it grew in size and importance as the junction of three railroads and a border crossing into Canada. Its name comes from a local native tribal word meaning "land without trees". The broad valley in which the town is located is called Sumas Prairie.

Before settlers built canals and dams, the lower valley was marshland and covered in shallow flood-filled lakes. The abundance of large trees in the surrounding hills attracted loggers and helped the city to grow. In 1897, gold was discovered in the mountains nearby and Sumas quickly grew to more than 2,000 residents as gold miners and mining suppliers moved in. After the gold rush subsided and trees were cleared, the town began to shrink and businesses shifted to support the growing farming industry surrounding the town. Dairy farms sprouted in the valley and still play an important role in the area's economy. The farmers, many of Dutch origin, and other area towns further tamed the flood-prone valley with a series of dikes and channels. This opened the valley to an abundance of dairy and crop farming. Today, Sumas hosts several forest products businesses as well as businesses supporting farms in the surrounding area.

Sumas (disambiguation)

Sumas is a city in Washington.

Sumas may also refer to:

Communities

Geography

Sumas 2

Sumas 2 was a proposal for an additional cogeneration electric power plant in the town of Sumas, Washington near the Canadian border. The excess heat from this generator was to be used by a wood products processing company. The original proposal came in 1999, and was revised twice in 2000 and 2001. It was approved in 2004 by the governor of Washington state. A power transmission line was to be constructed to a sub-station in Abbotsford, British Columbia but the Canadian National Energy Board in 2004 and the Supreme Court of Canada in 2006 denied permission to construct the transmission line. Sumas Energy 2.inc, the company behind the proposal, requested that the Washington's Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council terminate their Site Certification Agreement. This occurred in April 2006.

There is already a cogeneration plant in Sumas [SE1]. This proposal would have added a second plant [SE2]. This proposal was considered controversial because it burns natural gas to generate power and the resulting pollutants would have drifted up the valley, adding to pollution already generated by the populous Lower Mainland of British Columbia, which includes Vancouver.