The George S. Mickelson Trail follows the old railroad of the abandoned Edgemont to Deadwood line of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q). The railroad was converted to the Mickelson Trail in the Fall of 1998 as part of the Rails to Trails program. The CB&Q was the parent company of the Grand Island & Wyoming Central Railroad (GI&WC), which ran from Alliance, Nebraska, to Sheridan, Wyoming. In addition to constructing new railroads, the GI&WC acquired the Black Hills and Fort Pierre line as well as the Deadwood Central Railroad to complete the Edgemont-Deadwood section in 1891. The town of Edgemont was a base camp for railroad workers during construction of the Edgemont-Deadwood line, and the route to Deadwood was nicknamed The High Line. In addition to transporting agricultural supplies, timber, coal, and building stones, the GI&WC transported supplies to the active mining districts around Deadwood, and the Edgemont-Deadwood line was built mostly for transporting mining freight. In 1983, the line from Custer to Deadwood was abandoned.