The mining area is struggling as it faces the loss of the largest employer

METALINE FALLS, Wash. (AP) – Times are tough in a rural county in northeast Washington because one of the region's largest employers is closing.

Pend the Oreille mine, just north of Metaline Falls, closed on July 31, at a cost of about 200 family pay jobs in an area of ​​less than 1,000 residents.

This is another sign of the imbalance of prosperity in the state of Washington. While the Seattle area has high paying jobs, many rural counties like Pend Oreille County are dependent on natural resource industries – harvesting, fishing, mining –

This divide is part of a national trend. People in urban areas had higher per capita incomes, lower poverty rates, lower unemployment and higher levels of education than people in rural areas in recent years, according to U.S. data. Department of Agriculture. The countryside is also suffering from a declining population, while urban areas are growing, the USDA said.

Pend Oreille County Commissioner Steve Kiss said the loss of about 200 jobs at the lead and zinc mine is hurting. About 40 employees will be standing for long-term maintenance.

"The mine was the last operating natural resource-based industry in the northern part of the county, with the exception of two hydropower plants," Kiss said. "In the past, we have lost other mines, sawmills, a cement plant and the railroad that served all these industries."

Small businesses struggle 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 / convenience stores will definitely see a reduction in sales," he said, while local authorities will see less tax revenue.

Pend Oreille (Pahn-duh-ray & # 39;) County borders north of Canada and east of Idaho. The Selkirk Mountains create a dramatic landscape, lined with national forests and a wilderness area.

The human footprint here is easy.

Pend Oreille County has just 1[ads1]3,500 residents, and the unemployment rate of 7.2 percent was already more than two full points higher than the state average of 4.6 percent in June.

The owners of the Pend Oreille mine said the closure was prompted by reduced demand for zinc and the prohibitive costs of exploring new deposits. The Galena and Lucky Friday mines in nearby northern Idaho are the only active major mining operations remaining in the northwest northwest, a region originally built by a robust mining industry.

Metaline Falls, a city of less than 300 souls, was quiet on a recent Wednesday morning. The tidy center contained a restaurant, grocery store, cinema and many closed shops.

"This is a mining town," said Arlie Ward, a resident since 1996. He owns the historic Washington Hotel downtown, which takes care of the tourists who increasingly come to the playground. "It's a little safe. Half the people around here worked there."

Not all the financial news from the county is bad.

In April, the Kalispel Tribe of Indians opened a new casino near Cusick, which is part of a $ 10 million project that includes a motorhome parking, storage facility, gas station and grocery store, totaling about 80 new jobs.

The former poor tribe operates a large casino without reservations in a suburb of Spokane that has been very successful Now it is donating money closer to the reservation.

"We are focusing on economic development," said tribal member Curt Holmes.

Bill Bisson, city council leader in the nearby town of Metaline, said local leaders are working hard to expand the tourism base.

We have to look for different ways to bring the economy back, "Bisson said.

My closures can be survived, he added." They will continue to move forward, "Bisson said.

However, the forecast for the mining area is bleak.

A 2013 study of community leaders looked at what could be done with 263 acres of surface mining properties and 20 industrial buildings. The study found little chance of getting another major employer.

The mine was previously temporarily closed in 2008, but it reopened five years later as zinc prices increased.

Metaline Falls Mayor Tara Leininger, 62, does not expect a similar situation. "We're looking at losing people," Leininger said.

Mining companies from all over the country have recruited Pend Oreille mine employees, because underground mining is a specialized skill.

The closure of the mine is not the only factor in the shrinking 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 commissioner, has lived in Pend Oreille County for nearly 60 years.

"I fully understand the excitement of the people living here," Kiss added. "We will survive."