What would Vancouver be if U.S-Canada border was at the 48th Parallel ?
 

What would Vancouver be if U.S-Canada border was at the 48th Parallel instead of 49th parallel?
If the US-Canada border was at the 48th parallel, how different would the geography of Vancouver, BC area be?
Or near the 48th parallel.. Following the watershed and follow the Columbia river after the 48th parallel meets the Columbia River..


https://www.alternatehistory.com/for...on-jpg.562625/

OR

https://www.alternatehistory.com/for...a2-jpg.562627/

It would have made more sense for the Canada/US border to head west from Duluth, Minnesota a (46th or 47th parallel) till it hit the Columbia River, then to follow it to the Pacific Ocean.

That would have had huge consequences for the development of western Canada.

The oil field in North Dakota could have been ours. $$$
Then we also wouldn’t have had to deal with the awkward situation of having only one cross-country highway.

Not entirely true. The border would have remained above Lake Superior, and we thus would still have had to deal with that pesky Thunder Bay - Nipigon segment.

I too have often felt that Canada was robbed by the 49th parallel. It makes so much more sense just to go due west from Duluth. :yes:

That, and the stupid thumb of northern Maine that sticks up into Quebec. Everything north of Houlton ME should belong to Canada.

After the traitors got their independence ;), they were like the camel nosing into the tent. Consistently pushing the boundaries of what they could get away with. Other stupid indents, NW Angle, Point Roberts, Alaska:D.

Responding to the OP’s proposal:

Not much different, except Vancouver would sprawl a little more, since farmland and flat, developable land wouldn’t be so scarce, especially around the Abbotsford chokepoint.

The Grand Coulee dam probably wouldn’t have been built, since the Americans probably would not have been able to convince Canada to pay for half the costs of such an astronomical project.

A Puget sound city would’ve still formed, but wouldn’t be as big as Seattle, and May have been further south.

Mt Baker would have been “our” mountain. There would probably be more infrastructure at the base.

I guess Metro Vancouver would have been lot bigger in area, had more people and more affordable housing.
Could have become more populous than Montreal.. And It would spread southward instead of east..

Vancouver would be much smaller being less significant as part of the US. It stands alone in Canada. It has a lot more competition in the US in all aspects.

Which Vancouver are you referring to here??

The border would fit the geography a little better around the Lower Mainland. The current border is strange in how it bisects the Lower Mainland and cuts off Point Roberts. But I don't think there would be a big impact on the development of metro Vancouver.

Vancouver may or may not have developed into a railway terminus. But all else being equal, the US tends to be more developed than Canada. There's nothing particularly special about Seattle's location as far as its large corporate employers (Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, Amazon) are concerned. I think it's possible that Vancouver could have been a much larger city as part of the US. Another factor to think about is that Americans tend to move around more and Vancouver has an interesting natural setting that's pretty appealing.

We are talking about Vancouver BC not Vancouver Washington..I think you have confused cities of vancouver

I agree with that, but with all that extra land to develop the population would be much larger, perhaps as big as Toronto, since we would have much of present day Washington's area and population in Canada. It would have affected the balance of power in Canada and shifted it west.

It wouldn't happen, either Okanagan territory dispute is resolved in favour of the British or the Americans.

Imagine if the 49 parallel boundary cut straight through Vancouver Island as well.

I would say Vancouver would be a couple hundred thousand more.

Mt. Baker would be a symbol for the South Coast.

There would likely be another Penticton sized town in the Okanagan between Osoyoos and the border.

Always irks me that it continued along the 49th in BC. The borders on the OP would have been far more sensible (for both the Lower Mainland and the Okanagan).

On the flip side if the 49th continued through Vancouver Island (which was a serious proposal by the US) it is hard to say what would have become of Victoria and Nanaimo.

Nanaimo could have become our answer to Victoria, maybe becoming 2 or 3 times larger than today, or the Canadian portion of Vancouver Island could have far less people than today, Nanaimo maybe only being the size of Campbell River.

Victoria could have become somewhat smaller or larger. The US, unlike Canada, would have likely built a bridge with an interstate between their portion of Vancouver Island and the mainland.

Without an open water treaty through the Juan De Fuca straight Vancouver Port would have suffered and maybe Prince Rupert would have become larger and more important.

Yep, I think it's possible that Prince Rupert would have been a big winner relative to what it is now, perhaps ending up with the West Coast naval base.

I think Vancouver Island would have remained a total backwater if it had been bisected by an international border. It would not have made sense as a location for BC's capital. New Westminster would probably have remained the capital.

Maybe it would have stayed Granville.

In such a scenario I think it would have really stunted Vancouver’s growth.

It would likely be BC’s capital (New West) but without the Port far less important economically.

In this scenario I feel Metro-Vancouver would be about 1 million people and Prince Rupert about 500 000 people. Prince George might have also seen a slight population bump from this, being around 150 000 today.

Interestingly I think bisecting Vancouver Island along the 49th would have altered BC far more from what it is today than if the border had followed the 48th.

How would it affect Bellingham if the boundaries were like on the map above?

Not much, if at the 48 Bellingham would have just become a suburb of Vancouver, but probably still around the same size.

If the order went through the island, maybe a little less than now given Vancouver’s decreased size and importance.