Shelldrake

Shelldrake is a Michigan historical marker in Whitefish Township, Chippewa County, dedicated 1980.

North Superior Drive, Whitefish Township

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Legend has it that Lewis Cass, governor of the Territory of Michigan, and his party of nearly one hundred camped here on their search for the source of the Mississippi River 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.

TodayHistorical map

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David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1817 · North Western and MichiganTerritories. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1827 · Haut Canada, Michigan. Amer. Sep. 42. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1828 · Michigan. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1838 · Michigan and the Great Lakes (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1854 · A map of the surveyed part of Michigan / by John Farmer ; engraved by S. Stiles & Co. (University Library, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

North Western and MichiganTerritories, 1817, covering the location of Shelldrake, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — North Western and MichiganTerritories, 1817, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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Marker data: Michigan History Center
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Shelldrake

Historical maps covering this location

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