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THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, AuguST 13, 2019
Mining region struggles with loss of biggest employer
Washington, like
Oregon, faces an
urban-rural divide
By NICHOLAS K.
GERANIOS
Associated Press
METALINE
FALLS,
Wash. — Times are tough
in a rural county in northeast
Washington state because
one of the region’s biggest
employers is shutting down.
The Pend Oreille Mine,
just north of Metaline Falls,
closed on July 31, at a cost
of about 200 family wage
jobs in an area of less than
1,000 residents.
It’s another sign of the
imbalance of prosperity in
Washington state. While
the Seattle area gorges on
high-paying jobs, many rural
counties like Pend Oreille
County that depend on nat-
ural resource industries —
logging, fishing, mining —
are suffering.
This divide is part of
a national trend. People
in urban areas had higher
per-capita income, lower
poverty rates, lower unem-
ployment rates and higher
education levels than people
in rural areas in recent years,
according to data from the
U.S. Department of Agri-
culture. Rural areas are also
suffering a declining pop-
ulation, while urban areas
grow.
Pend Oreille County
Commissioner Steve Kiss
said the loss of about 200
jobs at the lead and zinc mine
hurts. About 40 employees
will remain for long-term
maintenance.
“The mine was the last
operating natural resource-
based industry in the north-
ern part of the county, with
the exception of two hydro-
electric facilities,” Kiss
said. “In the past we have
lost other mines, sawmills,
a cement plant and the rail-
road that served all these
industries.”
Small businesses strug-
gle to survive in the area in
the best of times, Kiss said.
“Our two grocery stores,
a few restaurants and bars
and two gas stations/conve-
nience stores will definitely
see a reduction in sales,”
he said, while local gov-
ernments will see less tax
revenue.
Pend Oreille County is
bordered on the north by
Canada and to the east by
Idaho. The Selkirk Moun-
tains create a dramatic land-
scape, blanketed by national
forests and a wilderness
area.
The human footprint here
is light.
Pend Oreille County has
just 13,500 residents, and its
unemployment rate of 7.2
percent was already more
than two full points higher
than the statewide average
of 4.6 percent in June.
The owners of the Pend
Oreille Mine said the closure
was prompted by slumping
demand for zinc and the pro-
hibitive cost of exploring for
new deposits. The Galena
and Lucky Friday mines in
nearby northern Idaho are
the only active large mining
operations left in the Inland
Northwest, a region that was
originally built by a robust
mining industry.
Metaline Falls, a town
of less than 300 souls, was
quiet on a recent Wednesday
morning. The tidy down-
town contained a restaurant,
grocery store, movie theater
and numerous closed-up
stores.
“This is a mining town,”
said Arlie Ward, a resident
since 1996. He owns the
historic Washington Hotel
downtown, which caters to
the tourists who increasingly
come to the outdoor play-
ground. “It’s a bite for sure.
Half the people around here
worked there.”
Not all the economic
news from the county is bad.
In April, the Kalispel
Tribe of Indians opened a
new casino near Cusick that
is part of a $10 million proj-
ect that includes an RV park,
storage facility, gas station
and grocery store. In total,
they will create about 80
new jobs.
The formerly impover-
Dan Pelle/Spokesman-Review
The Pend Oreille Mine in Metaline Falls, Washington, in 2009.
AP Photo/Nicholas K. Geranios
ABOVE: The Washington Hotel in downtown Metaline Falls.
BELOW: The entrance to the small post office.
AP Photo/Nicholas K. Geranios
Downtown Metaline Falls is a mixture of shuttered and open businesses.
ished tribe operates a large
off-reservation casino in a
suburb of Spokane that has
been very successful. Now
it is pouring money closer to
its reservation.
“We are focusing on
economic
development,”
tribal council member Curt
Holmes said.
Bill Bisson, a city coun-
cilman in the nearby town of
Metaline, said local leaders
are working hard to expand
the tourism base.
“We’ve got to look for
different ways to bring the
economy back,” Bisson said.
The mine closure is sur-
vivable, he added. “All the
people are hardy people.
They’ll continue to move
forward,” Bisson said.
The prognosis for the
mine site is grim, however.
A 2013 study by commu-
nity leaders looked at what
could be done with the 263
AP Photo/Nicholas K. Geranios
Hotel owner Arlie Ward.
acres of surface mine prop-
erty and 20 industrial build-
ings. The study found little
chance of gaining another
large employer.
The mine previously tem-
porarily closed in 2008, but
it reopened five years later
when zinc prices increased.
Metaline Falls Mayor
Tara Leininger, 62, doesn’t
expect a similar situation.
“We’re looking at losing
people,” Leininger said.
Mining companies from
across the nation have been
recruiting the employees
of the Pend Oreille Mine,
because underground hard
rock mining is a specialized
skill.
The mine closure isn’t
the only factor in the shrink-
ing population. Leininger
said some people with
health problems have left to
be closer to hospitals. The
local clinic just lost its only
doctor.
Kiss, the county commis-
sioner, has lived for nearly
60 years in Pend Oreille
County.
“I fully understand the
resiliency of the people who
live here,” Kiss added. “We
will survive.”
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