Cadillac, from Timber to Rails to Trails

The town that keeps reinventing itself

George Mitchell had a vision when he dreamed of developing what is known today as the city of Cadillac, but he may not have imagined that it would become a top destination for recreational trail users in the state.

Today, Wexford County has hundreds of miles of trails, including more than 150 miles for off-road vehicles, 200 groomed miles for snowmobiles, and another 150 miles of non-motorized trails, according to the Cadillac Area Visitors Bureau.

But in 1869, when Mitchell, a lumberman, came to the area from Grand Rapids to explore the new proposed route of the Grand Rapids & Indiana railroad to the Straits of Mackinaw, he found lakes and miles of pristine forests.

A Logging Town

The area was chock-full of untouched timber surrounding Big Clam Lake (Cadillac) and Little Clam Lake (Mitchell). Mitchell thought the two lakes would be ideal for floating logs to saw mills and trains. So, he helped persuade the railroad to adjust its route to accommodate the geography.

Mitchell then wasted no time and began acquiring large tracts of land, including the current site of Cadillac. Two years after arriving in the area, the Village of Clam Lake, which would later be known as Cadillac, was officially established in October 1871.

The founder knew lumber would bring industry and growth (though the lumber barons of that era had no foresight about the accompanying environmental damage). He planned and plotted for a county building and business and residential lots, along with a city park. Churches were given free lots and the cemetery was a gift, but even then there were no recreational trails.

By 1872, it was reported that the town had 60 families with about 300 people thanks to the booming logging industry. Mitchell encouraged other businesses, like mill operators, blacksmiths, and merchants to set up shop.

In 1877, Cadillac officially became a city and was on the rise.

“Most of what the railroad really helped was the lumber and timber industry,” says Haley Callahan, Wexford County Historical Society Museum docent. “But a lot of the businesses that were able to blossom at the time were largely related to the different products that they could make with the manufactured lumber.”

At the museum a small display and model train is dedicated to Ephraim Shay’s locomotive. Shay made the process of transporting and reaching timber through rough terrain easier with his invention of a smaller locomotive. The Shay locomotive could traverse steeper inclines and find its way deeper into the forest.

In the museum’s lower floor, a large exhibit is dedicated to the lumber and railroad industry.

“We have at least one track rail,” Callahan says. “We have a push wagon car that could be seated on the railroad track. And we have different maps and timetables when trains were supposed to arrive and leave.”

The museum docent says Mitchell, along with the railroad and logging industries, had a big impact on the development of Cadillac.

“Mitchell was such a forward thinker focusing on what the future looks like and how that would affect him and ultimately the city,” Callahan says. “I think he would be proud that we’ve developed this point and we didn’t stop when the railroad industry practically tanked.”

The End of an Era

On March 29, 1934, the lumber era officially ended with the last tree cut from a stand of hardwoods in Antioch Township. And after the timber went away, so did the railroad hub.

By the 1950s, Cadillac’s natural resources were again reinventing the city with a whole new industry: tourism. In the early 1900s, tourism consisted of visitors stopping on a train to overnight en route to other northern Michigan destinations along Lake Michigan.

When the age of the railroad in Michigan declined, many rails were abandoned or dismantled. But the miles of cleared land were easy to convert into different recreational trails, like the White Pine Trail, also known as the Old Indian Trail, connecting Cadillac to Traverse City. (Head to cadillacmichigan.com/old-indian-trail-cadillac-to-traverse-city for the history of this centuries-old trail!)

So today, instead of railroads and lumber, recreational trails are helping keep Cadillac firmly situated on the map.

Cadillac Area Visitors Bureau Executive Director Kathy Morin heads up the 501(c)(6) nonprofit that promotes tourism in the greater Cadillac Area. In 2018, an initiative to provide more ORV trails around Wexford County was launched by the CVB.

“I came to the visitors bureau in 2018 as the group sales manager, and at the time my predecessor Joy VanDrie had created a trails collaborative,” Morin says. She adds that the early framework helped pull together all the different stakeholders and user groups related to the various trails.

“You would think that Forest Service and the DNR would talk necessarily, but one is state and one is federal, and they kind of each stay in their own lane,” Morin says.

Then in October 2021, the United States Forest Service opened federal forests to ORVs for the first time. The change mirrored off-road recreation guidelines on Michigan state land, as well as a 2009 ordinance by Wexford County for ORVs to legally ride on county roads.

The change made tens of thousands of acres of state land and national forest accessible by ORVs and presented an opportunity to attract more visitors to the area.

Making Trails

Morin says they knew more trail users would be on their way and there was a need to enhance the ORV experience on and off the trails.

“One of the things that we wanted to be very cognizant of was putting out responsible recreation practices, like sharing messaging from Leave No Trace and Tread Lightly,” Morin says. “Making sure we’re promoting, but we’re also trying to be good stewards.”

In 2022, Cadillac received the Pure Michigan Trail award from the DNR and the Pure Michigan tourism promotion program. It recognizes trails in Michigan that provide high-quality recreational experiences for hiking, biking, paddling, and other trail-based activities.

Then, in May 2024, the CBV spearheaded a new 100-mile ORV Scenic Ride. Through a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant of $48,000, along with $52,000 from the visitors bureau, signage, maps, marketing, and more than 15 information kiosks were installed throughout the forest and at local businesses to promote ORV tourism. Additionally, a cleanup was held at the Manistee National Forest with more than 200 tires, two 30-yard dumpsters of trash, and scrap metal being collected.

“With the ORV project, it took us almost two full years,” Morin says. “The Forest Service says that it was lightning speed, as for us, it was like chomping at the bit to get it finalized.”

The success of the ORV initiative has been evident, according to Morin. There has been a 226.2 percent increase in ORV visitor traffic at Wexford County trailheads, as well as a 74.7 percent year-over-year increase in ORV visitor traffic at four key points of interest on the ORV Scenic Ride. (The ORV scenic trail has two staging areas: Cadillac West; south of M-55 off 33rd Road, and Caberfae Staging off M-55 near the ski resort.)

There are several plans and improvements slated this year to improve the trail system and experience, according to Morin, including digital mapping with onX, allowing riders to program their route for real-time navigation; another fall cleanup weekend; additional signage throughout the ride; $50,000 pledged from the visitors bureau to support grooming over five years; and updating maps.

More Work to Come

Additionally, a phase two of the ORV trail is being considered in the northern part of the county, which is mostly state land.

“There is some missing infrastructure, and so that is going to be a challenge for some more northern connectivity,” Morin says. “We don’t even have cost estimates. There’s a culvert out, and I think there’s a bridge out. People can still get around, but you kind of have to know where you’re going, and it’s not as user friendly.”

Morin says Wexford County has trails for all types of recreational users, which depend on a slew of volunteers. The visitors bureau provides support by marketing and funding for improvements at the various trails.

“There’s some really amazing assets that are already built out and very well known,” Morin says of Wexford’s various trails. “I think we’re still kind of a hidden gem. … But I think more and more people are looking at Cadillac as ‘Up North’ and reasonably affordable and easy to get to. It’s kind of laid back—blue jeans and beer—and your traditional outdoors.”

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