The sun is setting on the best summer job in Michigan — but there's always next year

Shane Vander Zee has the best summer job in Michigan, and that's before he gets a 9-year-old to do it for him.

Or, better yet, a 12-year-old. The older and larger the kids, the longer they can crank.

Vander Zee, a 17-year-old from Holland, is one of a dozen fortunate souls who've spent the warmest stretch of the year working in one of the prettiest parts of one of the state's most enjoyable resort towns. He's a crewman on the Saugatuck Chain Ferry, a hand-propelled barge that transports people, bicycles, coolers, dogs and, in several cases, a macaw across the Kalamazoo River.

As someone who spent his teenage summers throwing over-amped grown-ups out of softball games and selling shoes — not, I should note, simultaneously — it has struck me on every visit to Saugatuck that the chain ferry offers the finest possible seasonal employment.

A few weeks ago, during yet another balmy stretch in southwest Michigan, I ran that theory past some of the people doing the work.

"Absolutely," said Andrew DeBlecourt, 19, of Holland. "Hands down, for sure."

"It really is," said Joey Antel, 19, of Saugatuck. "It's practically a free workout every day."

"It's great," said Isaac Laninga, 15, of Holland. "So much fun."

"Totally agree," said Vander Zee.

The responses were as dependable as the route, some 350 feet westward from a small downtown dock and then 350 feet back — maybe 90 seconds each way if the breeze is favorable and the pilot is chasing a personal record time, or three-plus minutes on a leisurely voyage where a passenger or two lends a hand.

That's where the kids come in.

The chain ferry is whisked along by the turning of a large white crank in a wide but not particularly resistant circle. The way the crank attracts children, it could be made out of macaroni and cheese.

One little boy with a bear's face painted on his own actually had to leap to touch the crank at its highest point. But a couple of competitive adolescents on that same recent voyage had it clipping along nicely, to the approval of both Vander Zee and the happy parents snapping photos with their phones.

"It's a win-win," Vander Zee said. "They get to crank the only hand-powered chain ferry in America, and I get a break."

Sometimes, he said, he feels like Tom Sawyer. But Tom Sawyer didn't have a tip jar.

165 years, and counting

The chain ferry actually has a name, Diane, bestowed in honor of his wife by the engineer who created the current vessel in 1965. For the record, it does not technically have a tip jar; rather, it has a Sharktastic lunchbox with a hole cut in the lid, zip-tied to the railing. 

The first chain ferry across the Kalamazoo was put into service in 1857, hauling horses. The modern version of a technology that dates to 13th-century England is steel-hulled and open-topped, 25 feet long and 8 feet wide, with Victorian flourishes above the railings that make it seem almost graceful.

It's propelled along a surprisingly slender chain, anchored on each side of the river, with links an inch wide fed through a sprocket as the crank rotates. The 400-foot-long chain rises as the ferry passes over, then falls back to its 15-foot resting depth, out of danger range except for the once or twice a year when an impatient boater cuts too close and gets his bottom scraped as a reminder to be polite.

The ferry doesn't operate in hard rains or high winds, which means it's almost always smooth sailing and fair skies for the two-person crews in their navy blue Let Us Yank Your Chain T-shirts.

For each round trip, one of them shoves off, sounds the Coast Guard-mandated horn, collects the $2-per-person fares, takes or poses for pictures, scratches dogs behind the ears, responds to questions about the best place for fish tacos, and then jumps to the dock and tethers the incoming barge.

His partner cranks.

Shy persons need not apply

In fairness, the cranker will also answer questions, joke with passengers, and otherwise show why general manager Julie Ziemann of the Star of Saugatuck paddle-wheeler hired him.

The Star of Saugatuck team oversees the city-owned chain ferry, and "I'm looking for personalities, people who are friendly and like talking to all sorts of different people," Ziemann said.

While they banter, biceps and relationships build.

At $13 per hour plus tips and suntans, crew members tend to stick around into college. Repeat visitors become seasonal friends, dropping off lunch from one of the many nearby restaurants — a sandwich, or occasionally a steak.

What the heck, it's just vacation money, spread by people in vacation mood. There are plenty of $5 and $10 bills in the tip box.

Great job if you can get it

DeBlecourt, an engaging sophomore at Trinity Christian College near Chicago, has been a landscaper and a janitor and does not miss either job. On the water, easing past everything from ducks to yachts, he's in his element.

"We're going too fast now!" he told one girl in tie-dye Crocs who could barely reach the crank. The ferry was practically stalled, swaying in the middle of the river, but there was no oncoming boat traffic and she was giddy.

The chain ferry operates from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, usually from 9 a.m. until half an hour before sundown. Figure four round-trips per hour, and that's a lot of smiles.

As fall semesters start, or threaten to, the operating hours shrink. It's now 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. most days, Ziemann said, with a full stop the last week of August until a final burst of glory across Labor Day.

DeBlecourt will be back on campus by then, fending for himself. The day I rode with him, he had late-day help.

His sisters Lydia, 17, and Miya, 14, brought him half a pizza. And after the ferry cleared the dock on its westbound run, Miya cranked as though it was an audition, all the way across.

While Neal Rubin's research on the subject is not exhaustive, his recommendation for fish tacos in Saugatuck is Wicks Park Bar & Grille. He's reachable at NARubin@freepress.com, and followable on Twitter at @nealrubin_fp.

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