What Lake George's logging railroad was actually first at

The short answer is that Winfield Scott Gerrish did not build Michigan’s first logging railroad. Michigan State University’s history counts more than 15 earlier lines, including at least three that used steam locomotives. The careful distinction comes from the Michigan Department of Transportation: Gerrish’s Lake George & Muskegon River Railroad was Michigan’s first common-carrier logging railroad, and it began operating on January 28, 1877.

The line still has a good story. Gerrish had an interest in roughly 12,000 acres of pine between Lake George and the Muskegon River. Much of it sat six to ten miles from a stream that could float logs. A railroad history republished by the Traverse Area District Library says he saw a small locomotive at Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exposition, then used the idea for a line of about six miles between the timber and the river.

That connection mattered because rail could reach timber too far from a useful stream. It also let crews move logs year-round instead of waiting on frozen ground and spring river drives. By 1887, Michigan had 89 logging railroads.

So if you hear that Lake George had Michigan’s first logging railroad, add two words: common carrier. The line did not invent rail logging, but it became a prominent example of how a short railroad could connect inland timber to Michigan’s river network.