The Clam Lake Canal (sometimes called the Cadillac Canal)[3] is a man-made 0.33 mile (0.53 km) long canal between Lake Mitchell and Lake Cadillac in Cadillac, Michigan. It was made by George A. Mitchell, the founder of the city of Cadillac (as the Village of Clam Lake), in the 1870s. The main purpose of the man-made canal was to facilitate the movement of logs to sawmills. Mitchell was a businessman, merchant, railwayman, lumber baron, and real estate developer who needed lumber to build the village, and saw the potential for further sawmill development.

Clam Lake Canal
Clam Lake Canal from M-115 (July 2022)
Location within the state of Michigan
Location	Mitchell State Park Cadillac, Michigan
Country	United States
Coordinates	44°14′21.8″N 85°27′12.6″W
Specifications
Length	0.33 miles (0.53 km)
Maximum height above sea level	1,289 ft (393 m)
Status	Open
Maximum width	48 feet (14.6 m)
History
Former names	Black Creek[1]
Modern name	Cadillac Canal[2]
Current owner	Michigan DNR
Original owner	George A. Mitchell
Principal engineer	Clam Lake Improvement and Construction Company
Date completed	1873
Geography
Connects to	Lake Cadillac and Lake Mitchell (originally known as Big Clam Lake and Little Clam Lake)
Depth	2.25 feet (0.69 m)

Clam Lake Canal
Clam Lake Canal historic marker
Michigan State Historic Site
Designated	March 16, 1989

The canal displayed an unusual mystery soon after it was constructed: it freezes over in the first part of the winter, when the lakes on each side of it are unfrozen. Then, when the adjacent lakes freeze over with thick ice, the canal in between thaws and flows freely all winter long.

Background

In 1873, George A. Mitchell paid $2,000 ($45,700 today) to purchase a 40-acre (16 ha) strip of land between Little Clam Lake and Big Clam Lake. Little Clam Lake is now known as Lake Cadillac and Big Clam Lake is now known as Lake Mitchell, named after Mitchell's nephew and partner William W. Mitchell. The strip already connected these lakes via the easterly flowing Black Creek, which Mitchell envisioned as an efficient transportation route for logs once the canal was constructed.[4][5] He dredged the creek, but it was inadequate for floating the harvested timbers from Big Clam Lake to Little Clam Lake and to his mills in Cadillac, so he went about constructing a new canal a few hundred feet south. He noted the prevailing westerly winds, and the natural flow of the water to the northeast corner of Little Clam Lake, that would work to his advantage.[6]

Mitchell first persuaded the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad to change their original route layout between the lakes, redirecting it to the eastern end of the Little Clam Lake, in the southeast corner of Wexford County, Michigan.[5] He was a stockholder in the railroad company and a future director, and this helped his success.[5] He then formed the Clam Lake Improvement and Construction Company with $10,000 in capital stock, and developed a canal.[7][8] It is 0.33 miles (0.53 km) long, and some 20 ft or 6.1 m wide. The main reason for the canal's development was to float logs from one lake to the other and collect fees for the usage of the waterway.[9] The logs were then taken to the railroad and sawmills for processing into lumber.[10]

Environment and current use

The Clam Lake Canal has been widened six times over the years to about 50 feet or 15 metres, and as of 2005 is used as a recreational passage between the lakes for local boaters.[11][12] In 1919, the area was reorganized as Mitchell State Park; the canal itself was dedicated as a Michigan State Historic Site on March 16, 1989.[2]

Lake Mitchell, previously known as Big Clam Lake, is about a 2,500-acre (1,000 ha) surface area lake and 95 percent of it is at least 15 feet or 4.6 metres deep. Lake Cadillac, previously known as Little Clam Lake, is about a 1,100-acre (450 ha) surface area lake and about half of it is 15 feet or 4.6 metres deep. They are both fishing lakes, as is the canal, because they have vegetation favorable for a fish environment. Lake Mitchell (Big Clam Lake) reportedly dropped by a foot soon after the canal was completed in 1873. Black Creek still exists and flows in both directions during periods of high water draining the eastern portion of the local marsh into Lake Mitchell and the western portion into Lake Cadillac.[2]

The size of the Lake Mitchell drainage basin is over 28,000 acres and the lake flushes about once a year. One report classifies Lake Mitchell as a borderline meso-eutrophic lake and another report classifies it as eutrophic, although some of those parameters show as mesotrophic. The lake is primarily sand and organic matter, with a few areas of cobble stone and gravel. Although there is no dam or lake level control structure on the lake, there is a structure on Lake Cadillac that influences the level of Lake Mitchell. The official lake level for Lake Cadillac (Little Clam Lake) was established in 1967 as an annual maximum level of 1,290 feet or 390 metres above sea level.[2]

Freezing phenomenon

In the winter, Clam Lake Canal often displays an unusual phenomenon, described in Ripley's Believe It Or Not series.[13] Unlike most canals in the Northern Hemisphere, the canal freezes over in the first part of the winter, when the lakes on each side are unfrozen.[13] When the lakes freeze over in the mid-winter months, the canal then thaws and flows with unfrozen water.[13]

According to Department of Natural Resources, the explanation for this phenomenon concerns the physical properties of water which is heaviest and most dense at 39 °F (4 °C), and less dense above and below this temperature. In the early winter months, lighter water floats to the top; as the weather gets colder, water closest to the top freezes first.[14] Since the canal is shallower and has less volume than the adjoining lakes, it freezes more quickly, causing ice to form on the canal before the lakes. As the winter advances and temperatures drop further, the lakes catch up and begin the hard freezing process. The warmer lake water under the ice is forced out, as the ice becomes thicker on top. This warm water moves toward the canal, thawing the canal, and causing current to flow across it. It stays unfrozen for the length of the winter. On rare occasions, when the temperature goes below 0 °F (−18 °C), some ice will form on the shoreline of the canal.[15]

• 
  January 1890 – Clam Lake Canal flows in winter months, while the lakes on each side are frozen over
• 
  February 1900 – Clam Lake Canal flows, Lakes Cadillac and Mitchell are frozen with thick ice on top
• 
  21 November 2008 – Widened Clam Lake Canal is frozen, but the lakes on each side are open and unfrozen
• 
  14 December 2008 – Lakes are frozen, while Clam Lake Canal itself is flowing and unfrozen in winter

See also

• List of Michigan State Historic Sites in Wexford County

References

Sources

• Ashlee, Laura R. (2005). Traveling Through Time / A Guide to Michigan's Historical Markers. Ann Arbor, Michigan U.S: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-03066-3.
• Forster, Matt (2018). Backroads & Byways of Michigan. Michigan: Countryman Press. ISBN 9781581574944.
• Jager, Mark (1999). Mystic Michigan: Part One. Marion, Michigan: Zosma Publications. ISBN 9781889043043. Ever since the canal was constructed in the late 1880s, people have wondered why the canal freezes over when the cold weather comes, while the lakes remain unfrozen. Later, when the lakes freeze over, the canal thaws out and remains unfrozen for the rest of the winter.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Clam Lake Canal.