Shelldrake, Michigan
 Shelldrake
Shelldrake (Michigan)
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| Location | Whitefish Township, Chippewa County, Michigan, USA |
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| Coords | 46°40′40″N 85°02′01″W / 46.67778°N 85.03361°WCoordinates: 46°40′40″N 85°02′01″W / 46.67778°N 85.03361°W |
| History | Lumbering town 1880s to 1920s |
| Present | Ghost town in Michigan |
| Historical significance | Listed on Michigan historic sites 1979 |
| Website | Historic Sites Online Shelldrake Informational Site |
Shelldrake is a ghost town in Whitefish Township, Chippewa County, Michigan, United States, about 8 miles (13 km) south of Whitefish Point, Michigan at the mouth of the Shelldrake River (also known as the Betsy River) on Whitefish Bay. It is listed on the Michigan Historic Register. Prior to European settlement it supported a seasonal Native American fishing village. In the 1890s and early 1900s, it was a thriving sawmill town during peak logging years on the Tahquamenon River watershed. By the 1920s repeated fires and the decline of lumbering led to its demise. Today it is a privately owned ghost town with only a few weathered, original buildings.
According to Jesuit scholar Father Gagnieur, Shelldrake derived its name from the Ojibwa word Anzigo-ziibi. Though some cite Shelldrake to mean a species of duck called the "cross-bill," the Ojibwa word anzig means either a sheldrake or a sawbill duck (also known as a merganser). Shelldrake was first a Native American fishing village. Today a road closely follows the trail that ran from Shelldrake to Vermilion Point. Native Americans are believed to have used this trail to reach mines of red ochre (also known as vermilion), which they used for paint pigment.
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