A cargo ship carrying 36,000 bushels of rye wheat, headed from Chicago to Buffalo via the Straits of Mackinac, went down in a November storm in 1878 off Rogers City, Michigan. Some of the rye seeds surfaced in 2024 to become an experiment in agricultural science.
As in many areas of scientific research, serendipity plays a role here. Or, as Louis Pasteur noted in 1854, “Chance favors the mind which is prepared.” Chad Munger, founder of the Mammoth Distilling company in Northern Michigan, was prepared — only he was prepared to recover historic wood from another ship, the Westmorland., to flavor his rye whiskey. Like most of the estimated 4,000 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, the Westmorland was protected by the government. The James Bentley was owned by a Paul Ehorn, who was willing to sell the wood to Munger.
Why Munger would be interested in using 19th century sodden wood in his rye whiskey is best explained by his sense of place, interest in history, and marketing instincts. Historic wood-infused taste distinguishes the character of the Mammoth rye whiskey. But when Munger learned about the cache of rye onboard the Bentley, he was awash with possibilities.
And, it turns out, Munger had a connection to Michigan State University, which was founded as the Agricultural College of the state of Michigan in 1855. Why that matters becomes apparent in a coincidence. The distiller’s interest in rye for whiskey met his historical interest in the disappearance of rye from Michigan farms 70 years ago because it was less profitable than corn or soybeans. At the time of the 1878 harvest, Michigan was the nation’s largest producer of Rosen rye. One of Munger’s collaborators found an advertisement from a 1934 Christmas issue of Vanity Fair for Schenley Whiskey, a popular liquor at the time. The ad read: “This whiskey made from the purest rye on earth from South Manitou Island in Michigan, Rosen rye.”
So, the plot thickens as Munger’s historic imagination meets his agribusiness instincts: Could the seeds from the 1878 varietal be regrown on Michigan soil? And if so, could it supply enough rye for his whiskey?
The entrepreneur met Eric Olson, a botany and genetics researcher at MSU. Olson told Munger that if he could recover the seeds Olson would attention to grow them in the lab.
Unfortunately, the seeds didn’t germinate. But Olson is also a genetic scientist. “The seeds aren’t dead at all,” he said. “We can revive the genes that were carried in the seeds and use modern genome sequencing techniques to assemble parts of the genome. We’ll be able to sequence the chromosomes of this rye and transfer those chromosome segments into a modern rye variety, essentially reviving a historic rye.” MSU was able to get 20 Rosen Rye seeds from the USDA seed bank. They have received permission to grow a crop of Rosen Rye seeds on South Manitou Island, Shenley Whiskey’s ad said its rye was grown: “the purest rye on earth.”
There are many treasures awaiting discovery from the cold, fresh waters of the Great Lakes; some are unintended consequences of commercial foraging.
For the complete story and updates, check out this MSU link:
