The Other Singapore - A Tale of Shipbuilding and Baby Food

Those of you who thought there was only one place in the world called 'Singapore' may be surprised to learn that there are in fact two.

More precisely, there were two, one of which is now buried in sand dunes. The other Singapore was established in the mid-1800's by timber interests and situated on the Kalamazoo River, downstream from Saugatuck, near the shore of Lake Michigan. Its first house was built in 1837.  The area had been originally inhabited by Ottawa Indians.

Unlike its South East Asian cousin, the US version didn't produce nutmeg but was renowned for its sawmills, planing mills, ship builidng, barrel factories and other wood products. When Chicago was devastated by the Great Fire of 1871, much of the replacement timber came from Singapore and its neighboring  timber (lumber) communities.

Once the white pine trees were all clear-felled and no longer available, and its protective windbreaks lost, the American Singapore was abandoned and gradually buried by drifting sand dunes.  It now only exists in legend as one of the state's 'lost cities'.

In an excellent April 2010 article, James Schmiechen describes the town thus:

"Singapore existed for about a half century, from about 1837 to the early 1880's. It began, as one pioneer descendant called it, as "an oasis in the woods" - a very early lumber/immigration port and shipbuilding town that tells of how an environmental disaster resulted from the clear cutting of nearby forests and the blowing sands that eventually buried the town. It was, in short, an early American 'disaster city'. Its first mill was constructed in 1835, being surrounded on the north and west by wooded virgin forest and on dunes rising to a height of about 50 feet. Like most of the area settlements, it started as a lumber milling camp and tried desperately to become a town but in reality its handy proximity to Lake Michigan turned out to be a disadvantage".

He also sheds  light on the immigrants who arrived by boat and made up the population of Singapore:

"Singapore was a sort of Michigan "Ellis Island" port of entry for immigrants from all over America, Canada, and Europe. Dozens of Saugatuck area families trace their Michigan origins to Singapore - many of them tradesmen (e.g. bricklayers, carpenters, sailors, engineers) who stayed on in the settlement for a time before moving on to opportunities (particularly land acquisition) in other settlements. Around 1850 the boarding house held families from Ireland, Holland, Norway, Germany, and Canada. Daniel Gerber, the founder of the Michigan family that invented processed baby food arrived in Michigan by way of Singapore in 1863. Early Dutch settlers of the nearby settlement that became Holland, Michigan came to Michigan by way of Singapore".

Singapore also had its own bank and these were often known as "wildcat banks" because of the localised worth of the currency they printed (see examples below) and volatile nature of their businesses.

The moral of the story, if there is one, is that prosperity can be a fleeting thing if you abuse your natural resources and don't plan for a sustainable future.  

The Singapore of Michigan didn't heed this advice and is now lost in the sands of time.  The prosperous Asian Singapore that we know today has a solid focus on renewable and human resources and continues to thrive.

Reference:
The Historic Significance of the Old Singapore Site Today by James Schmiechen - April 2010.
Singapore Michigan Bank Notes
Owner sheds historic Singapore sawmill, steam -  The Allegan County News

Two Original Las Vegas Compositions

Vegas 1
Roger Smith, 2013
Copies available here.

Vegas 2
Roger Smith, 2013
Copies available here.

Safer and Cheaper in Singapore

For those of us who have money in a bank it is always somewhat reassuring to find that the bank that you trust, is not likely to fall over any time soon.

Good news then for Singaporeans as OCBC has retained its title as the world’s strongest bank for the second year in Bloomberg's latest research.

United Overseas Bank Ltd. (UOB) comes in number seven and DBS at number eight thanks in a large part to the steady Singapore economy and an aversion to risk.  Mind you, the interest deposit rates for term investments in the Republic are fairly minuscule when compared to other countries, but you can't have it both ways.

Not only are the banks more secure but the cost of living, based on a global index of recognisable US consumables, shows that Singapore is much cheaper to live in than say Australia, the USA or the UK.

Hong Kong has greater purchasing power parity than Singapore.  Mouse over the charts to see the figures.

The Cost of Living

Presidential Ambitions and A 40-Year Coincidence

Not that I am overly interested in either of the two personalities that are striving to sit in the Oval Office after next week, but I do find this ever-changing polling graph of interest.  The margin between the two candidates seems incredibly small if such polls are to be believed.


Although the chart is labelled 'Really Clear Politics' the reality is that politics are usually anything but clear. It is the nature of politics that there are winners and losers but which ever party gets in, America has a tough road ahead.

Of significantly more interest to me is the change in Chinese leadership that is taking place at the moment.  What a contrast in style it is from the hoopla experienced in the USA.  The Straits Times has an excellent section on the issues and the challenges that they face.

They are labelled the Lost Generation because of what they missed out on during Mao's Cultural Revolution.  As correspondent Peh Shing Huei puts it, they had no childhood, no education, no family and, in the eyes of many, never felt happiness.

How has this shaped their attitudes, their global vision and their capability to take on the challenges China faces. We shall have to wait and see.

The reins will be handed over on November 8th to Vice-President Xi Jinping, Vice-Premier Li Keqiang and other members of the fifty plus generation.  First they will need to navigate their way through the shoals of factional in-fighting and it will be 350 top cadres of the Chinese Communist Party who decide the final make up of the top table.

It is a once-in-40-year coincidence where both the China and US leadership changes at the same time.  It all makes for an interesting month or, if politics is not your thing, switch to the Shopping Channel.

Related articles

• Is China more democratic than the West?
• Secrecy of China's Party Congress

Little Green Glowing Men

For the past few decades New Zealand has been "Nuclear Free'. A bit of a misnomer really as there is nuclear material in the country in small research labs, but never the less a political position that had its genesis in the destructive nuclear testing in the Pacific, most notably by France and US.

While am not a rabid anti-nuclear campaigner, I think most New Zealanders are supportive of the stance. There have been& political repercussions, most notably the downgrading of our status with the USA from 'ally' to 'friend'. Only in recent times and administrations has there been a thaw in the relationship with the NZ Navy (what's left of it) rejoining strategic military exercises with the US. But nuclear-fueled& vessels are still not allowed in new Zealand ports.

This has not stopped the Americans putting their nuclear fuel rods to other forms of propulsion. The latest is nuclear-driven vehicle which has just been dropped on to the surface of Mars. If there is any life on the planet I hope it is staying well away from the batteries. Little Green Men might run the risk of becoming Little Green Glowing Men if they don't.

One of the first images taken by NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars early Monday, August 6.  The clear dust cover that protected the camera during landing has been sprung open. Part of the spring that released the dust cover can be seen at the bottom right, near the rover's wheel. Photo: NASA.

Frivolity asides, this is a marvelous scientific and engineering accomplishment.. To travel for 9 months across billions of miles (without accruing any airpoints) and to land on the surface of the Red Planet takes some doing.

Given the form of propulsion for the Mars vehicle (nuclear rather than solar) the life expectancy of the craft could be several years, yielding a wealth of scientific results. One hopes that the fuel rods powering the vehicle are using the latest technological innovations. Traditionally a 'spent' nuclear rod has only used 5% of its potential power.

Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory now think they have found a way of utilising the remaining 95% of the uranium in the fuel rod. Their technique could produce hundreds to thousands of years worth of carbon free energy just by reusing the uranium that has already been mined, and is currently considered ‘spent’.

Mr Brown's Singapore version of the Mars Landing!

Mind The Coconuts

Security is taken seriously in Asia.  Witness the elaborate details surrounding the US President's current visit to India.

According to a media report several days before President Obama's visit  "U.S. and Indian security officials visited the small two-story building and ordered the looping off of ripe coconuts from the trees to prevent any accidental bonking".

Clearly the report is US-centric as the term "bonking" has an entirely different connotation in Europe.

Having witnessed at first hand the elaborate security measures that surrounded the visit of then President Clinton to a museum I worked for, this lopping coconuts comes as no surprise.

Menawhile in New delhi an enterprising Indian designer has taken to converting Michelle Obama printed shopping bags into sets of conversation pillows. 

She claims she has made the pillows because she considers the first lady an "inspirational icon," but her ulterior motive is to lure her into the store to present her with a set.  No doubt this will generate a lot of free publicity for her design studio.

The Indian twittershpere has been sharing their humorous insights of the tour. 

One wit has noted that the twitter term "Air Force One" has been ranking higher than the President's name, causing him to comment "Air Force One is in trending while Obama is not, so his carrier overtakes his career".

Much has also been made of Obama's anticipated visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar. One twitter user is sure the US president will never visit Bangalore.

"Those buggers will make him outsource his presidency, that too at $10/Man Hour," he tweeted.