The "Chief Wawatam" was designed by Great Lakes marine architect Frank E. Kirby. She was launched in Toledo, Ohio, by the Toledo Shipbuilding Company on 26 August 1911, and went into service for the Mackinac Transportation Company on 18 October 1911. The Mackinac Transportation Company was a joint venture of the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway, the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, and the Michigan Central Railroad, the three railroads that serviced the Straits of Mackinac. The vessel could carry up to 25 railroad cars on rails bolted to the ferry ship's deck.