37. Saugatuck Chain Ferry

Location: Mary at Water Street, Saugatuck
Date: Established 1857. Photo 1908

For Saugatuck’s settlers on the east side of the Kalamazoo River, the only way to reach Douglas was by rowboat. Around 1833 a bridge was built at Mary Street but it didn’t last long. It was so relentlessly battered by floating logs and schooners that it collapsed in 1856. The best possible solution was the now-famous Saugatuck Chain Ferry that debuted 1857. Originally, the trip cost 5 cents. Soon grocery and refreshment stores popped up at the ferry landings.

The ferry is a flat, barge-type boat called a scow. The first versions of the ferry were large enough to hold a wagon and team of horses plus dozens of passengers. Eventually automobiles made the crossing. A 400-foot underwater chain connects the ferry to its landings on each side of the river. A hand-cranked winch hauls the ferry along the chain. The ferry captain makes sure it was safe to cross but usually a younger person, historically called the cranker, provides the muscle power to turn the wench.

Mr. R. J. Peterson built the present ferry, the white gingerbread “Diane,” in 1965. Diane is the last hand-cranked chain ferry in the United States.