In the 1890s and early 1900s, it was a thriving sawmill town during peak logging years on the Tahquamenon River watershed.

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.

[5] Cornelius ("Con") Culhane, who attained "Paul Bunyan-like" status in local lumbering legend, contracted to haul timber by railroad from logging camps to Shelldrake throughout its sawmill years.

[6] 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."

[7] A 1914 University of Michigan scientific expedition to the Whitefish Point peninsula traveled to Shelldrake by the lumbering company’s tug.

Take M-123 to Paradise to the intersection with Whitefish Point Road, continue straight on Whitefish Point Road for 3.7 miles (6.0 km), turn right on Superior Drive, travel 0.1 miles (0.16 km) to first curve, park and walk right/south on the trail intersecting Superior Drive for approximately 300 feet (91 m).