Clam Lake Canal
in 1873 the Clam Lake canal was constructed between Big and Little Clam lakes present-day Lake Mitchell and Cadillac. Lumbering was the major industry in the Clam Lake area and saw mill owners needed an efficient means of transporting timber to the mills and railroad sites in Cadillac. Two years earlier George A. Mitchell, a prominent Cadillac banker and railroad entrepreneur and Adam Gallingher,a local carpenter formed the Clam Lake Canal Improvement and Construction Company. The company dug the canal at the narrowest point between the lakes through land owned by Mitchell. The canal is 1/3 mile long and was originally 20 feet wide. It has been widened at least six times most recently in 1965 and is presently 48 ft wide. today the channel serves the areas recreational boaters