High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The original railroad was established by William Howard White of Boyne City, Michigan in 1893. William H. White was a northern Michigan industrialist who owned the W.H. White Company. The company operated saw mills in Boyne City, the White Transportation Steamship Company with service to Chicago, Buffalo, Georgian Bay, Ontario and Boyne City, a commercial dock on Lake Charlevoix and controlled extensive timberlands around Boyne Falls. The company needed an economical way to supply the lumber camps and haul the cut timber to the saw mills located in Boyne City. In addition, the White Transportation Steamship Company wanted to compete with the steamship lines that docked at the Port of Petoskey. A railroad intersecting the Grand Rapids & Indiana Main Line at Boyne Falls with service to the Boyne City would make the commercial docks at Boyne City more competitive. A railroad control by the W.H. White Company was the solution.