Elk Lake is located in Antrim and Grand Traverse counties in

Northern Michigan Northern Michigan, also known as Northern Lower Michigan (known colloquially to residents of more southerly parts of the state and summer residents from cities such as Detroit as " Up North"), is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan. A popul ...

. The lake is about a mile and a half wide (2.4 km) and nine miles (14 km) long, and is centered at near the town of Elk Rapids. It has maximum depth of , making it Michigan's second deepest after Torch Lake. It is a popular lake for fishing, featuring

lake trout The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater char living mainly in lakes in northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, it can also ...

rock bass The rock bass (''Ambloplites rupestris''), also known as the rock perch, goggle-eye, red eye, and black perch, is a freshwater fish native to east-central North America. This red eyed creature is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish fa ...

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch, American river perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Sam ...

, smallmouth bass,

muskellunge The muskellunge ''(Esox masquinongy)'', often shortened to muskie, musky or lunge is a species of large freshwater predatory fish native to North America. It is the largest member of the pike family, Esocidae. Origin of name The name "muskell ...

ciscoes The ciscoes (or ''ciscos'') are salmonid fish that differ from other members of the genus in having upper and lower jaws of approximately equal length and high gill raker counts. These species have been the focus of much study recently, as rese ...

, brown trout, rainbow trout, and whitefish. Elk Lake lies to the west of the larger Torch Lake, which lies just to the east. It is part of a watershed that begins in northern Antrim County with Intermediate Lake, which is connected by the Intermediate River with

Lake Bellaire A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

. The Grass River flows from Lake Bellaire into Clam Lake, which in turn drains into Torch Lake via the short Clam River. Torch Lake is drained by the Torch River, which flows into Lake Skegemog, which opens into Elk Lake. Elk Lake flows through Elk River into the east arm of

Grand Traverse Bay Grand Traverse Bay is a deep bay of Lake Michigan formed by the Leelanau Peninsula in the northwestern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The bay is long, wide, and up to deep in spots. It is further divided into two east and west arms by the Ol ...

at Elk Rapids. This watershed is popularly known as the Chain of Lakes.

Wabigama club

Wabigama is a private colony situated on the eastern bank of Elk Lake in Rapid City, Michigan. It was founded in 1924 by Lester Dragstedt and other

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

professors. Founding members were leaders with a common interest in academic and applied research including (among others)

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

, and

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

. Friends comprised the remaining members. The club has offered anonymity from the local community, refuge from their public life and some of the few remaining wilderness areas on private land. The club's land tract was surrounded by rural life until the late 1970s when commercial interests started encroaching. The camp is located less than five miles (8 km) from one of Northern Michigan's best-known vacation areas, on the south end of Torch Lake. Membership is closed and has been passed through family lines for three generations. Some the better-known members include Arno B. Luckhardt (MD, PhD Physiology),

John Crout John Shaw Crout (July 5, 1899 - October 31, 1987) was the Director of Engineering at Battelle Memorial Institute when, in 1944, Battelle was visited by Chester Carlson, in order to obtain support for his idea about a xerographic process. One o ...

(chemical engineer), Carl Dragstedt (M.D.), and Louis Leon and Thelma Gwinn Thurstone (and continued by two of their sons, Fredrick L. and Robert L. Thurstone. The camp is mentioned in

Edwin G. Boring Edwin Garrigues (Garry) Boring (23 October 1886 – 1 July 1968) was an American experimental psychologist, Professor of Psychology at Clark University and at Harvard University, who later became one of the first historians of psychology. A ''Rev ...

's ''A History of psychology in autobiography'' and in the obituaries of various individuals involved with the colony.Google Books sources
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References

External links

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Elk Lake Iceboating
{{authority control Lakes of Antrim County, Michigan Lakes of Grand Traverse County, Michigan Lakes of Michigan

Wabigama club

See also

References

External links