Auchtoon!The Canyon of Mackinac…
Originally published in the Grand Rapids Business Journal, August 6, 2007
If Michigan has one thing going for it (and after several years of economic recession, it sometimes feels like it may be the only thing), it is our abundance of fresh water. Twenty percent of the world’s fresh surface water is contained in the five great lakes and four of the five great lakes touch our shorelines. Michigan is so dominated by these lakes that our state is split in two: the Upper and Lower peninsulas, and has given us what is surely the most awkward of all state mottos, “If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you.” Seriously.
For the first 120 years of statehood, Michigan’s two peninsulas weren’t even connected. A stretch of water five miles wide called the Straits of Mackinac (a channel between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron) provided the closest point. In 1957 the Mackinac Bridge (aka, Mighty Mac, or simply “The Bridge”) was completed, and the peninsulas were linked.
I wanted to draw a comic that would commemorate this 50 year anniversary as well as address some modern concerns: Lake levels are approaching historic lows, the world is warming, the population of decidedly drier states is booming, and Michigan’s political influence is waning. You do the math. That giant sucking sound that Ross Perot heard back in the ’90s might just turn out to be the water draining out of Michigan….
(For more info on what I meant by “invasive species problem,” click here.)
Auchtoon! » Jef Mallett’s Swim Across the Straits of Mackinac… said,
August 15, 2007 @ 7:45 am
[…] Speaking of the Straits of Mackinac, my good friend Jef Mallett is going to swim across this coming Labor Day weekend! Jef is raising money for Mentor Michigan, an organization that works to ensure that all of Michigan youth have ongoing relationships with stable, caring individuals. […]