The Saugatuck Chain Ferry is a hand-cranked chain ferry that crosses the

Kalamazoo River The Kalamazoo River is a river in the U.S. state of Michigan. The river is long from the junction of its North and South branches to its mouth at Lake Michigan, with a total length extending to when one includes the South Branch.U.S. Geologic ...

Saugatuck, Michigan Saugatuck ( ) is a city in Allegan County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 865 at the 2020 census. The city is within Saugatuck Township, but is administratively autonomous. Originally a lumber town and port, Saugatuck, alo ...

. It connects downtown Saugatuck to Mount Baldhead Park and Oval Beach. It is the only operational hand-cranked chain ferry in the

Great Lakes region The Great Lakes region of Northern America is a binational Canadian– American region centered on the Great Lakes that includes the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin and the Ca ...

, and it is also believed to be the last such ferry operating in the United States.

Operation

The crossing, which is about , takes approximately five minutes to make. The ferry operates seasonally, from

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

. It has a crew of two. It is chiefly crewed by college students. The crew members crank the ferry by hand across the river. It operates approximately every 10 to 15 minutes, based on demand, but not in inclement weather. The ferry can carry up to 24 passengers per crossing.

History

The Saugatuck Chain Ferry was first operated in 1857. It was opened as a replacement for a bridge that was damaged by flooding and passing

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

s. The first ferry operator was 19-year-old Darius Billings. In 1897, Jay Meyers became the operator, a position he served in for the next 21 years. In 1931, L.S. Brittain was the ferry operator. The ferry went out of business in 1940 after being bypassed by an automobile bridge built upriver and also replaced by a rowboat. In 1965, local businessman R.J. Peterson restored chain ferry service with a new ferry, named ''Diane'' after his wife. Around 2005, Peterson sold the ferry to the City of Saugatuck, which continues to operate it. After Peterson sold the ferry, it was managed by the husband-and-wife team of Bruce and Marilyn Starring until their retirement at the end of the 2017 season. Marilyn Starring coordinated personnel and

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

inspections while Bruce provided maintenance for the ferry. In 2018, the ferry did not operate on Labor Day weekend, closing prematurely because all of its captains and most of its crew returned to college. At the time, the ferry could only be operated if one of the crew was a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, licensed by the Coast Guard. In response to this incident, the city worked with United States Representative

Fred Upton Frederick Stephen Upton (born April 23, 1953) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from Michigan from 1987 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he represented Kalamazoo, Michigan, ...

to obtain a waiver exempting the Saugatuck Chain Ferry from the Coast Guard captain licensing requirement. Upton argued that such a license was not necessary to safely operate a chain ferry, noting that because the ferry "travels only 100 yards, and does so while connected to a chain permanently connected to shore the entire time, the risks to passengers is icminimal and almost completely mitigated by safety procedures". In January 2019, Upton's waiver was included as part of the Coast Guard bill passed by the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

and

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

References

{{Reflist Cable ferries in the United States Ferries of Michigan Tourist attractions in Allegan County, Michigan 1857 establishments in Michigan 1940 disestablishments in Michigan 1965 establishments in Michigan Kalamazoo River Transportation in Allegan County, Michigan

Chain Ferry A cable ferry (including the types chain ferry, swing ferry, floating bridge, or punt) is a ferry that is guided (and in many cases propelled) across a river or large body of water by cables connected to both shores. Early cable ferries often ...