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Winfield Scott Gerrish (born 15 February 1849 in Lee, Maine—died 19 May 1882 in Evart, Michigan) is credited with revolutionizing lumbering in the U.S. state of Michigan by building a seven-mile-long logging railroad from Lake George to the Muskegon River in Clare County, Michigan in 1877. [1] Although not the first logging railroad in the state, Gerrish's railroad was very successful. Gerrish adopted the idea of using a steam locomotive on steel rails after seeing a Porter 0-4-0 rod engine at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. [2] However, twenty years earlier in May 1857, the Blendon Lumber Company successfully and profitably employed a standard gauge steam locomotive on its approximately seven-mile-long logging railroad that extended from the center of Blendon Township in Ottawa County, Michigan to the bank of the Grand River. [3] The use of rail allowed year round transportation of any size tree to the sawmills where unpredictable rivers were previously used. [4]