The Underground Opium Trade of the Pacific Northwest
As high tariffs threatened profits, British Columbia factories relied on smuggling to keep their product moving into the American market.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Anticipation of the Wilson bill becoming law, and thereby lowering the duty from $12 to $6 a pound, ten opium factories in British Columbia have ceased operations. The trade in that particular line is about dead, so to speak, and the four factories now running employ less than one-third of the number of cooks formerly employed. On March 1 there were about 500 tons of prepared opium stored in warehouses in British Columbia ready for the market. The merchants, however, are loath to dispose of their stock before the passage of the new tariff. They fully understand that if the duty is lowered to $6 a pound their product will be practically shut out of the American markets for the reason that they cannot successfully compete, either as to quality or price, with opium manufacturers of China. It is conservatively estimated by the American customs officials that fully two-thirds of the product is smuggled into the United States. The manufacture of opium is one of the most profitable industries of the British province, as it employs over 200 men in making charcoal, which is used for cooking purposes, and brings into the province a great amount of money from the United States, at the expense of the United States.
“The manufacture of opium is one of the most profitable industries of the British province... all at the expense of the United States.”
This report highlights how 19th-century trade policies and tariffs shaped illicit supply chains across the Salish Sea, a precursor to modern debates about border security and the global flow of controlled substances. The 'boodle' rhetoric and tax evasion schemes echo the persistent tensions between regional economic dependence on trade and federal regulatory mandates.
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