A Dune that Swallowed the Town
It's difficult to miss the large green Michigan historical marker set up in the middle of the bustling tourist town of Saugatuck. Most people aren't disappointed, since it tells the rather romantic tale of the town of Singapore, Michigan. Named for the island country in the hopes of luring boat traffic, Singapore was once a hub of industry; the town boasted three lumber mills at one time, and even had a wildcat bank (a bank chartered and regulated by the state and known for their nefarious practices).
The great Chicago fire of 1871 created a seemingly limitless demand for lumber, which the Singapore mills were more than happy to oblige. At the time, Allegan county was covered in forests. But as the demand for lumber increased, many of the forests in the area were logged out. They removed any suitable tree they could find, including the trees on the dunes that acted as a soil stabalizing buffer between them and the rampaging western winds of Lake Michigan.
The town was abandoned shortly after the forest resources gave out; by 1877 the bank and the town were defunct and everyone moved out (although some didn't go very far - just upriver a 1/4 of a mile to Saugatuck). While some of the buildings were moved, many of them were simply covered up over the years by the migration of Michigan's denuded dunes, and Singapore started it's new life as one of the more famous Michigan ghost towns.
While the disappearance of Singapore by sand might haunt the imagination like a Stephen King novel, the real star of this show is the sand dune. It seems the town was nearly completely buried with sand in about 4 years (1), although some parts of the town could still be seen as late as 1883(2). The burial of Singapore is a classic example of sand dune movement by the wind, particularly after a dune denuding event.
Shortly after the town was abandoned, Henry Chandler Cowles discovered the importance of dune vegetation to the growth and ultimate stability of the dunes. Cowles is famous for his research in dune succession, or how dunes “grow up” and become larger dunes. He was able to identify groups of plants that were the first to colonize dunes. Ultimately he was able to find a suite of plants that accompanied every stage of dune succession.
Perhaps one of the more interesting discoveries he made was how cottonwood trees could be responsible for building giant dunes. As cottonwoods are covered in sand they are able to grow taller because they send out roots from the buried trunk. Taller trees allow more sand to accumulate. This continual growth and accumulation leads to large, stable dunes that harbor other forms of plant life.
There are many reasons for severe soil denudation, including, but not limited to, strong storm surges, the quick accumulation of sand leading to smothering, fire, and people. This last caused the sudden burial of Singapore and still accounts for shifts in dunes to this day; a walk along any of Michigan's sand dunes will reveal signs asking hikers to stay on paths so that vegetation is not killed and the dunes remain stable.
(1) http://bit.ly/1s59vPQ…
(2) http://bit.ly/1wrOdO1
Photographs courtesy of the Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Society Box 617, Douglas, MI 49406
Aritcle by Colter
