# Shelldrake River

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For the river in New York, see [Sheldrake River](/source/Sheldrake_River).

The **Shelldrake River** is a 32-mile (51-kilometre)[3] river in [Chippewa County](/source/Chippewa_County,_Michigan) on the [Upper Peninsula](/source/Upper_Peninsula) of [Michigan](/source/Michigan) in the [United States](/source/United_States). It flows through [Tahquamenon Falls State Park](/source/Tahquamenon_Falls_State_Park) and the Lake Superior State Forest into [Lake Superior](/source/Lake_Superior).

The Shelldrake River's headwaters are an undefined area in the Betsy Lake Wetland, an [Eastern Hemlock](/source/Eastern_Hemlock) and [tamarack](/source/Tamarack) forest in the roadless area of northern Tahquamenon Falls State Park. This wetland, in Chippewa County and adjacent [Luce County](/source/Luce_County,_Michigan), 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](/source/Shelldrake,_Michigan) on [Whitefish Bay](/source/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](/source/Northern_pike).

Local large mammals include [moose](/source/Moose) and [black bear](/source/American_black_bear). There is a noted [sandhill crane](/source/Sandhill_crane) nesting ground near the mouth of the river.

[Henry Rowe Schoolcraft](/source/Henry_Rowe_Schoolcraft) camped at the mouth of the Shelldrake on June 18–19, 1820, finding a small village of [Ojibwa](/source/Ojibwa) who fished for [whitefish](/source/Freshwater_whitefish) in the lake.

The *Shelldrake River* should not be confused with the [Sheldrake River](/source/Sheldrake_River) in [Westchester County, New York](/source/Westchester_County,_New_York).

## References

1. U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. [The National Map](http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/), accessed January 3, 2012

1. *Michigan Atlas and Gazetteer (10th ed.)*. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. 2002. p. 117.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Shelldrake River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelldrake_River) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelldrake_River?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.