Shelldrake is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in Whitefish Township, Chippewa County,

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, about south of Whitefish Point, Michigan at the mouth of the Shelldrake River (also known as the Betsy River) on

Whitefish Bay Whitefish Bay is a large bay on the eastern end of Lake Superior between Michigan, United States, and Ontario, Canada. It is located between Whitefish Point in Michigan and Whiskey Point along the more rugged, largely wilderness Canadian Shield ...

. It is listed on the

Historic Register. Prior to European settlement it supported a seasonal Native American

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 ...

. In the 1890s and early 1900s, it was a thriving

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

town during peak

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksTahquamenon River The Tahquamenon River ( ) is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed January 3, 2012 blackwater river in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The river flows ...

watershed. By the 1920s repeated fires and the decline of lumbering led to its demise. Today it is a

privately owned A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the company's stock is ...

with only a few weathered, original buildings.

Early days

According to Jesuit scholar Father Gagnieur, Shelldrake derived its name from the

Ojibwa The Ojibwe (; syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the northern plains, extending into the subarctic and thro ...

word ''Anzigo-ziibi''. Though some cite Shelldrake to mean a species of

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

called the "cross-bill," the Ojibwa word ''anzig'' means either a sheldrake or a sawbill duck (also known as a

merganser ''Mergus'' is the genus of the typical mergansers ( ) fish-eating ducks in the subfamily Anatinae. The genus name is a Latin word used by Pliny the Elder and other Roman authors to refer to an unspecified waterbird. The common merganser (''Mer ...

). Shelldrake was first a Native American fishing village. Today a road closely follows the trail that ran from Shelldrake to

Vermilion Point Vermilion Point is a remote, undeveloped shore in Chippewa County, Michigan, United States. Located west of Whitefish Point, Michigan, this historic spot lies on a stretch of Lake Superior’s southeast coast known as the " Graveyard of the Gr ...

. Native

Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Law of the United States, U.S. federal law does not equate nationality with Race (hu ...

are believed to have used this trail to reach mines of

red ochre Ochre ( ; , ), iron ochre, or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the col ...

(also known as ''vermilion''), which they used for paint pigment.

Lumbering days

Cornelius ("Con") Culhane, who attained "

Paul Bunyan Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack and folk hero in American and Canadian folklore. His tall tales revolve around his superhuman labors, and he is customarily accompanied by Babe the Blue Ox, his pet and working animal. The character originate ...

-like" status in local lumbering legend, contracted to haul timber by railroad from logging camps to Shelldrake throughout its sawmill years.Taylor, Sprague, (1991, 2008). Tahquamenon Country: A look at the past, p. 2. Historical Society of Michigan, East Lansing, Michigan, pp. 86-89, 93-102. . Rather than struggle through the swamps of the lowland between the Two Hearted and the Tahquamenon rivers, he transported "his entire outfit by train, pulling the tracks up behind him, laying new rails in front." A 1914 University of Michigan scientific expedition to the

Whitefish Point Whitefish Point is a cape of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, United States, marking the entry point of Whitefish Bay. It is north of the unincorporated community of Paradise, Michigan. Whitefish Point is known for the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum ...

peninsula traveled to Shelldrake by the lumbering company’s tug. Scientist W.S. McAlpine described Shelldrake as "... a typical small lumbering town, owned principally by the Shelldrake Lumber Company. A narrow gauge lumber railroad runs westerly from town for several miles." The Penoyer brothers from

Bay City, Michigan Bay City is a city in Bay County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The population was 32,661 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is located just upriver from the Saginaw Bay on the Saginaw River. It is the princip ...

began the first lumbering operations on the mouth of the Shelldrake River in 1895 with the construction of a sawmill, long docks, and a tramway into Whitefish Bay for loading lumber onto ships. They owned a large block of pine lands in the Tahquamenon River watershed. The Calumet and Hecla

copper mining Copper extraction is the multi-stage process of obtaining copper from list of copper ores, its ores. The conversion of copper ores consists of a series of physical, chemical, and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with coun ...

company bought the sawmill and uncut

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

in 1899 for their mines. Calumet and Hecla sold out to a Canadian firm, the Bartlett Brothers, in 1910. Lumber milling continued at Shelldrake until 1925 when a fire burned down the sawmill plant for the second time.

Settlement

By the late 1890s, Shelldrake had a sawmill, houses for workers that were equipped with bathrooms, a hospital, a school house, a post office, and an

icehouse Icehouse or ice house may refer to: * Ice house (building), a building where ice is stored * Ice shanty, a shelter for ice fishing also known as an ''Icehouse'' * Ice rink, a facility for ice skating. * Ice hockey arena, an area where ice hockey i ...

that could store enough meat to feed a population of 1,000 through the winter months. All of the buildings were plastered and had hot water piped from the sawdust burner., 569. There was a

stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

between Eckerman, Michigan and Shelldrake daily in the summer and three times a week during the winter. At one time there was also a passenger ship sailing between Shelldrake and

Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan Sault Ste. Marie ( ') is a city in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Chippewa County, Michigan, Chippewa County and is the only city within the county. With a population of ...

Today

Shelldrake was listed on Michigan’s Historic Register in 1979 with the period of historical significance designated as 1600–1825. However, Shelldrake did not become settled as a lumber town until the late 1890s. The state marker text reads: :Shelldrake legend has it that

Lewis Cass Lewis Cass (October 9, 1782June 17, 1866) was a United States Army officer and politician. He represented Michigan in the United States Senate and served in the Cabinets of two U.S. Presidents, Andrew Jackson and James Buchanan. He was also the 1 ...

, governor of the Territory of Michigan, and his party of nearly 100 camped here in their search for the source of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

in 1820. This area, once a bustling lumbering community, was first settled in the mid-nineteenth century. Shelldrake is now a sleepy resort and hunting place. Few of the weatherbeaten buildings that once faced the long boardwalk remain. This settlement is a reminder of the area’s lumbering era. Although Shelldrake was sold to private owners during the 1930s,Dodge, Roy L., (1973). Michigan Ghost Towns: Volume III Upper Peninsula. Glen Publishing, Troy, Michigan, USA. ISBN B000RY3178, p. 65. it never developed into a resort or hunting place despite what is recorded on the Michigan historic marker. It is now a privately owned ghost town with only a few weathered, original buildings at the site.

Directions

Take M-123 to

Paradise In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human ...

to the intersection with Whitefish Point Road, continue straight on Whitefish Point Road for , turn right on Superior Drive, travel to first curve, park and walk right/south on the trail intersecting Superior Drive for approximately . The historic buildings and state marker are on the right of the trail facing Whitefish Bay.

References

External links

Michigan Genealogy Trails-History of Shelldrake
{{Chippewa County, Michigan Unincorporated communities in Chippewa County, Michigan Unincorporated communities in Michigan Logging communities in the United States Ghost towns in Michigan Former populated places in Chippewa County, Michigan Michigan State Historic Sites Native American history of Michigan Michigan State Historic Sites in Chippewa County Michigan populated places on Lake Superior Populated places established in 1895 1895 establishments in Michigan