Shelldrake River
Shelldrake River is located in Michigan
Shelldrake River
Location within the state of Michigan
Physical characteristics
SourceSheephead Lake
 • locationWhitefish Township, Michigan
 • coordinates46°38′26″N 85°13′43″W / 46.64056°N 85.22861°W / 46.64056; -85.22861
 • elevation715 feet (218 m)
MouthWhitefish Bay
 • location
Shelldrake, Michigan
 • coordinates
46°40′32.3″N 85°01′40.4″W / 46.675639°N 85.027889°W / 46.675639; -85.027889
 • elevation
602 feet (183 m)
Length32 miles (51.5 km)
Basin features
Tributaries 
 • rightS. Branch Shelldrake River[1]
WaterbodiesShelldrake Lake[2]

The Shelldrake River is a 32-mile-long (51 km)[3] river in Chippewa County on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the United States. It flows through Tahquamenon Falls State Park and the Lake Superior State Forest into Lake Superior.

The Shelldrake River's headwaters are an undefined area in the Betsy Lake Wetland, an Eastern Hemlock and tamarack forest in the roadless area of northern Tahquamenon Falls State Park. This wetland, in Chippewa County and adjacent Luce County, is dominated by Lake Superior-fed rain and snow. For mapping purposes, the Shelldrake River is depicted as flowing out of Sheephead Lake, a little-visited lake in the Betsy Lake Wetland area.[4]

Much of the Shelldrake River's course passes through the Betsy Lake Wetland, and an alternate name for the river is the "Betsy River".

The Shelldrake River flows generally west-to-east towards its mouth in Shelldrake, Michigan on Whitefish Bay of Lake Superior. A dam impounds the river 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Shelldrake; a state-run rustic campground at the dam pond offers 17 spaces, mostly for fishermen seeking northern pike.

Local large mammals include moose and black bear. There is a noted sandhill crane nesting ground near the mouth of the river.

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft camped at the mouth of the Shelldrake on June 18–19, 1820, finding a small village of Ojibwa who fished for whitefish in the lake.

The Shelldrake River should not be confused with the Sheldrake River in Westchester County, New York.

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: South Branch Shelldrake River
  2. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Shelldrake Lake
  3. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed January 3, 2012
  4. ↑ Michigan Atlas and Gazetteer (10th ed.). Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. 2002. p. 117.
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