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The Beginning This is the first in a series of features on the history of boat building in Saugatuck. It is the story of the yards, the builders and the boats they built with pride and skill. Beginning in 1841, marine craftsmen plied their trade on the banks of the Kalamazoo. Today boat building continues. What a historical saga it has been. Early boat building exemplified the spirit of the frontier. The essential ingredients were classically entrepreneurial - risky, uncertain,and competitive. Like the marine shipping trade which it made possible, it was not a venture for the faint-hearted, but offered a full reward to the bold and the successful. Consider first the beginning. Saugatuck was an ideal place to build boats because the location presented a large and beautiful safe harbor with flat river banks. Local sawyers were ready and able to mill the logs. The forest upstream - an easy float all the way from Allegan - contained a huge supply of virgin growth white oaks, the right stuff for straight keels, ribs and thick planking. White pine was easy to shape for above-deck structures. Ship builders came from the east where their heritage had created a new generation of master craftsman ready to make their fame and fortune building for the burgeoning great lakes shipping business. The vessels were wooden work horses, first powered by the wind and then as the nineteenth century progressed, steam powered. Sturdy and practical – you might say homely and certainly not clipper ships– the boats were designed for service on the rivers, in the harbors and on short runs between the numerous lake ports. It was so because roads were barely born. Freight and human cargo were moved over water. Chicago was a easy overnight trip by boat but a two day arduous journey by any other means. The photos this week are an introductory montage of the yards, the people and the boats built on the banks of the Kalamazoo during the last 165 years. Stay tuned. I thank Kit Lane for her vast knowledge of local boat building history. Her book “Built on the Banks of the Kalamazoo” is a wonderful and invaluable resource on the builders and the boats they built here. By Jack Sheridan

Remembering When

Winthers, Sally

01/02/2022

11/18/2023