A Few Facts About Michigan Dunes & Forests

We enjoyed our visit to a museum in Grand Haven and learned, or perhaps were reminded of, some facts about the formation of the Great Lakes.

The Great Lakes were formed over hundreds of thousands of years by the advance and retreat of giant glaciers. Up to a mile high in some places the ice moved south from the Arctic, scouring the earth as it passed. Advancing at an average rate of a few thousand feet per year this conglomeration of ice, rock and soil took some 4,000 years to stretch from the Arctic Circle to Lake Michigan. As the glaciers spread they deepened existing valleys, the largest of which eventually formed the Great Lakes

Over a span of about a million years the glaciers underwent four major advances and retreats. As they melted and moved back north they left enormous deposits of all they had dragged south with them. Huge heaps of gravel and sand remained after the last retreat some 12,000 years ago. These deposits now serve as one of Michigan's most important natural resources.

This is especially apparent in West Michigan where they are blessed with very unique terrain at the water's edge. Wind & storms exposed the sand, allowing it to drift toward shore and creating the dune structure in the region. These are the largest freshwater dunes in the world.

Who knew that Michigan trees provided the lumber to rebuild Chicago after the Great Fire of 1871?! Actually I never even thought about it before but this is what we learned:

Starting from a few small-scale logging operations in the early 1830's Michigan became the #1 lumber producing state in the country by 1880. Primarily the lumber was eastern white pine which was preferred because it was soft, and easy to work with. Michigan's trees provided the lumber to replace homes and structures lost in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and to build houses throughout the Midwest. By 1900 Michigan forests were logged out.