Manuscripts Collection
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY was chartered by the United States Congress in 1864 and empowered to construct a railroad and telegraph line along a northerly route from Lake Superior to Puget Sound. In return for building the road, the company was granted title to all the odd-numbered sections of land lying within ten miles either side of the line where it was located in states, and within twenty miles either side of the line where it passed through the territories. This grant, estimated to encompass between 47 and 60 million acres, constituted the largest land grant ever awarded by Congress.
The charter outlined the procedures by which the land was to be turned over to the company. After completing its preliminary surveys, the company was to submit a map of the general route of the line to the United States Department of the Interior. Upon receipt of this map, the government would withdraw from public sale, homestead, or pre emption all odd-numbered sections of land lying within the limits as defined by the charter. The railroad could not take immediate possession of its lands, however. Only after each 25 miles of completed track had been inspected and approved by the government would the railroad be granted clear title to lands bordering the newly constructed section of track.
During the period between 1864 and 1870 several unsuccessful attempts were made to finance the enterprise. In 1869, negotiations were opened with the renowned banking house of Jay Cooke & Co., and by the beginning of 1870 an agreement was concluded. As the Northern Pacific's financial agent, Jay Cooke & Co. was authorized to sell $100 million worth of 7.3 percent tax-free 30-year bonds. The bonds, which were to be exchangeable at par (later raised to 10 percent over par) for the company's lands, were secured by a first mortgage upon all the “lands and property, real and personal" of the railroad. In May, 1870, Congress passed a joint resolution granting the railroad permission to pledge its as yet unearned lands as security for the first mortgage bonds.
Jay Cooke played a dual role in the enterprise. He and J. Edgar Thomson, a prominent Philadelphia railroad executive, served as trustees for the bondholders. Thus, not only was Jay Cooke & Co. responsible for the sale of the bonds, but Cooke took it upon himself personally to guarantee the interests of the investors.
In many respects the key element in the project was the land grant. Financial success was predicated upon the assumption that the proceeds from the sale of the company's lands would be used to redeem the first mortgage bonds. It was the job of the Land Department to promote and supervise the sale of these lands.
On February 1, 1871, the board of directors of the railroad named a five-member Land Committee, under the chairmanship of Frederick Billings, to organize the Land Department and oversee its operations. The Land Committee served as the link between the Northern Pacific's board of directors and the Land Department. The head of the Land Department, the land commissioner, reported to the committee which in turn reported to the board of directors.
Originally, the Land Committee was to consist of five members: the president of the Northern Pacific and four members of the board of directors. In May, 1871, the number was increased to six with the addition of the Northern Pacific vice president. The committee was abolished on March 6, 1872, but was reactivated on March 13, 1873, at which time the number of members was reduced to three. Billings chaired the committee until October 20, 1875, when he was succeeded by John M. Hutchinson.
Under Billings' direction, office space for the Land Department was rented in New York City; furnishings and supplies were purchased; a clerk, James G. Dudley, was hired; office books were opened; and in March a land commissioner, John S. Loomis, was appointed to head the department. Two other offices were opened: the Minnesota district office in St. Paul and the Pacific district office in Kalama, Washing ton Territory. All Land Department business between Lake Superior and the Rocky Mountains was to be handled by the St. Paul office; all business west of the Rockies was to be the responsibility of the Kalama office.
The main duties of the district offices were threefold: first, they were to supervise the examination and platting of the company's lands; second, they were to promote the sale of the lands; and third, they were to handle all the office work necessary to expedite the sales. In addition, the district offices performed a multitude of ancillary services. They answered inquiries regarding the company's lands; helped newly arrived settlers find temporary lodging and pro cure supplies, equipment, fuel, and other necessities; escorted excursion groups, land selection committees, influential investors, government officials, and others on tours of the line and the surrounding communities; reported on and attempted to prevent illicit logging in the vicinity of the line; sought to maintain good public relations with the local communities; and kept the New York headquarters informed about conditions and significant events in the districts.
Preparations to open the Minnesota district office were begun late in the spring of 1871. George B. Wright, who was hired in May to manage the office, sent out twelve teams of land examiners to begin inspecting and assessing the company's future lands. Most of the efforts of the St. Paul office during this first year were directed toward examining and mapping the lands in preparation for putting them on the market. In the spring of 1872, four local Land Department agents were hired to handle all sales in the vicinities of Duluth, Wadena, Audubon, and Glyndon, Minnesota. At the height of its activities, in the summer of 1872, the St. Paul office employed over forty persons with a monthly payroll of nearly $3,000. In addition to Wright and the local agents, there were five clerks, four draftsmen, two attorneys and their three assistants, and four field teams consisting of five to six men each.
Activity remained high throughout that summer. Several immigrant reception houses were opened along the line to provide temporary lodging for newly arrived immigrants who intended to purchase lands from the railroad. Colonists arrived regularly at the two recently established colonies near Hawley and Glyndon, Minnesota--the Detroit Lake and Red River colonies, respectively. Numerous persons traveled along the line in search of lands for themselves or for future colonies. In the late summer and early autumn, the St. Paul office was busy collecting agricultural and mineral specimens for display at fairs and exhibitions in the United States and abroad.
Despite the elaborate preparations and fevered activity, relatively few of the company’s lands were sold in 1872. The first sales contract was not signed until the end of May, 1872, a full year after the St. Paul office was opened. Sales during that summer were greatly hampered by delays in getting the company's European operations and promotional activities underway. In November, Wright reported to Billings that of the more than 1,500,000 acres of company lands that had been examined in the Minnesota district over the last year-and-a-half, only 18,000 acres (about 1 percent) had been sold as of the first of that month. The poor sales of the 1872 season, coupled with the general financial malaise of the company, prompted Billings to order district operations cut back severely. Wright was forced to dismiss the local land agents and reduce his office staff. The following spring, Wright resigned and his duties were assumed by the chief clerk of the St. Paul office, James Buel Power.
In spite of optimistic projections, sales in 1873 were not much better than they had been in 1872. New colonies were founded in western Minnesota--the Yeovil Colony near Hawley and the Furness Colony near Wadena--but sales as a whole continued to fall well below Land Department projections. With the failure of Jay Cooke & Co. in September, nearly all Land Department activities in the Minnesota district came to a halt. The field operations were abandoned and only a skeletal office staff was retained. Expenses were further reduced by moving the district headquarters to Brainerd where other company offices were located. Thenceforth, the Minnesota office restricted its activities solely to performing whatever office work was necessary to expedite the company's land sales.
Ironically, the collapse of Jay Cooke & Co. achieved for the Land Department what no amount of labor had theretofore been able to accomplish. Land sales in Minnesota and eastern Dakota Territory mushroomed as settlers and investors from all over the country rushed forward to exchange their nearly worthless bonds for the company1 s valuable lands. By September, 1873, the Land Department had been able to sell only about 41,000 acres of land in the Minnesota district; by the end of the year, another 22,000 acres had been disposed of. In 1874, the company sold nearly 190,000 acres in Minnesota and Dakota Territory, over three times as much land as it had sold during the entire first three years of operation. In 1875, sales more than doubled again when the company sold in excess of 475,000 acres. By January, 1876, the company had sold a total of 728,000 acres in its Minnesota district.
The Land Department's operations were far less extensive on the West Coast than they were in the Minnesota district. Early on, the decision had been made to concentrate the resources of the Land Department upon opening the company's more accessible Midwestern prairie lands to settlement as rapidly as possible. Therefore, it was expected that the West Coast office would function initially in somewhat of a caretaker capacity, watching over and protecting the company's lands until conditions were more favorable for their settlement. In March, 1871, the board of directors appointed John W. Sprague as general agent for the company's Pacific district and put him in charge of all company business (exclusive of engineering and construction matters) on the West Coast. As one of his multiple duties, Sprague managed the Land Department office that was opened at Kalama, Washington Territory, in June of 1871. Aside from putting several land examination teams in the field, most of the work of the Kalama office consisted of protecting the company's vast West Coast timber resources. Stumpage agreements were reached with some loggers specifying the amount they were to pay the company in return for harvesting the timber in a specific area. In order to discourage unauthorized logging, agents were hired to police the region and seize any logs cut illegally. This was a rather futile endeavor, as illicit logging was common in the Pacific Northwest at that time.
It was anticipated that in time the work of the office would in crease to the point where it would require the services of a full-time manager. Sprague was unable to make such a commitment due to his other duties and political activities. In the spring of 1873, Nathaniel P. Jacobs was appointed assistant land commissioner and directed to take charge of the office at Kalama. Jacobs' tenure there was short. He quickly came into conflict with Sprague and the company's managing director on the Pacific coast, John C. Ainsworth, Early in 1874, Jacobs was recalled and George B. Hibbard, superintendent of emigration in the New York office of the Land Department, was named to replace him.
The collapse of Jay Cooke & Co. in September, 1873, cut short whatever plans there were to expand the West Coast operations of the Land Department. The Kalama office, like its Minnesota counterpart, was forced to curtail its activities and lay off most of its personnel. In October, 1874, the decision was made to move the Pacific district office to Tacoma, the western terminus of the line. Office space and personnel were to be shared with the Tacoma Land Company, a townsite development company headed by Ainsworth. Hibbard was dismissed from his post in October of 1875 and Sprague was once again put in charge of Land Department affairs in the Pacific district.
Very few lands were sold in the Pacific district prior to 1874. The first sales contract was not signed until November, 1872, and only a little more than 6,000 acres had been sold by September, 1873. But the collapse of Jay Cooke & Co. had the same effect on land sales in the Pacific district as it did in Minnesota and Dakota Territory. Land sales on the West Coast tripled in 1874; by the end of that year, 17,000 additional acres had been sold. According to the Land Committee report of June 21, 1876, sales increased eightfold in 1875 when more than 144,000 acres were sold. By January, 1876, the company had sold a total of nearly 168,000 acres on the West Coast.
As originally envisioned, the Land Department was not only to be responsible for managing the company's lands, it was also supposed to help stimulate demand for them. Billings submitted a general plan for the organization of the Land Department to the board of directors in March, 1871, in which he wrote: "Directly connected with ... [the work of preparing the lands for sale] …comes the work of emigration, and this is really the great work of the Land Department."
In order to undertake this "great work," the department needed a European representative. Throughout 1871, the Land Department's affairs in Europe were handled by George Sheppard, working out of the offices of Jay Cooke's London affiliate, Jay Cooke, McCulloch & Co. Sheppard familiarized himself with all aspects of the emigration business, established contacts with groups of potential emigrants, and organized a publicity campaign to promote the Northern Pacific and its lands. He reported regularly to Billings and to officials of Jay Cooke & Co. about affairs in Europe--especially insofar as they affected emigration. Plans for the creation of a network of local agencies in Great Britain and on the continent evolved during the fall and winter of 1871.
In March, 1872, Sheppard opened a Northern Pacific Land Department office in London and shortly thereafter appointed several agents to work in the agriculturally depressed areas of southwest England and Wales. In June another office was opened in Liverpool. After touring several northern European cities making contacts and assessing emigration prospects, Sheppard appointed Land Department agents in Paris, Rotterdam, Dusseldorf, Geneva, Gothenburg, and Christiania (Oslo), and hired a publicist to work in Berlin.
European emigration to Northern Pacific lands was relatively light in 1872, as the Land Department's European network was not in place until well after the peak of the emigration season had passed. In England, the leaders of several prospective colonies were contacted and plans were made to establish the Yeovil and Furness colonies along the line of the Northern Pacific in western Minnesota. The news of a particularly severe winter storm in the Midwestern United States and uncertainty about the financial stability of the Northern Pacific enterprise helped hold emigration down in 1873. In July, after conferring with Sheppard, the board of directors reduced the budget for the European activities significantly. With the collapse of Jay Cooke & Co. a few months later, the entire European operation came to a halt. Most of the agents were dismissed immediately. For a few months, talks continued with the promoters of a proposed Dutch colony, but shortly after these negotiations failed, the remaining offices were closed.
The hub of all Land Department activities was the New York office. Its primary function was to direct and coordinate the district and foreign operations. In addition, the office worked closely with officials of Jay Cooke & Co.--most notably Alvred Bayard Nettleton, agent for the trustees--to plan and conduct the massive publicity campaign that was being launched to promote the sale of the company's bonds and lands. The office staff was relatively small, consisting of the land commissioner, the commissioner (later superintendent) of emigration, and several clerks. Theoretically, the Land Committee functioned in an oversight capacity while the actual head of the Land Department was the land commissioner. In reality, however, certain persons--Sheppard, for example--tended to report directly to Billings (as chairman of the Land Committee) instead of to the land commissioner.
Shortly after being named land commissioner in March, 1871, John Loomis departed for Minnesota to begin inspecting the company's lands and to inaugurate district operations. Except for a brief visit to New York, Loomis remained in Minnesota through the end of 1871. During his absence, the affairs of the New York office were handled by its chief clerk, James G. Dudley. While in Minnesota, Loomis escorted several excursion parties on tours of the Northern Pacific lands, and met with prospective investors and colony organizers. At the same time, he helped set up the Minnesota district operations and developed procedures for putting the lands on the market. These procedures called for the St. Paul office to prepare detailed plats of each section of company land from the examination teams' field notes. This plan, while ambitious, was extremely impractical, and it soon became apparent that the office staff could not keep up with the amount of work required to implement it.
In March, 1872, the board of directors ordered a total reorganization of the administrative structure of the company. As a result, both the Land Committee and the office of the land commissioner were temporarily abolished. Frederick Billings was appointed managing director of the Land Department and took personal charge of its affairs.
Billings' main concern was to end the delays and get the primary work of the department--selling land--underway as soon as possible. One of his first actions as managing director was to abandon Loomis' elaborate platting program and replace it with a far simpler one; thenceforth, only rough township plats were to be prepared. Another major obstacle was removed when Billings granted Sheppard the authority to commence full-scale operations in Europe.
Satisfied that the work would now proceed quickly, Billings began looking for a new land commissioner to take charge of the department, and in November, 1872, William Alanson Howard was appointed to this position. Howard assumed his duties as land commissioner in March, 1873, whereupon Billings stepped down as head of the Land Department and was reappointed chairman of the resurrected Land Committee.
Much of the energy of the land commissioner and the Land Committee chairman was directed toward influencing legislation and procuring favorable administrative rulings in Washington, D.C. Billings and Howard were in constant contact with the company's attorney and chief lobbyist in Washington, former president pro tempore of the Senate, Benjamin F. Wade. Most of the issues that were of interest to the Land Department concerned, in one way or another, the removal of what the railroad considered to be adverse claims to its lands. The company lobbied vigorously in favor of legislation to extinguish Native American claims, particularly those of the Sisseton-Wahpeton in Dakota Territory. In order to set aside numerous private claims (and several put forth by other railroads as well), the company sought favorable rulings from the Department of the Interior specifying the exact dates upon which its land withdrawals became effective.
As noted earlier, one of the primary responsibilities of the Land Department was to stimulate demand for the company's lands. Both the promotional campaign and the European operations were directed toward this end, as were the activities of the commissioner of emigration for soldiers' colonies, George B. Hibbard. As his title implies, Hibbard1s primary responsibility was to encourage the establishment of veterans' colonies along the line of the Northern Pacific. In the course of his official duties, Hibbard cultivated contacts with numerous veterans' organizations and incipient colony associations, provided information on the nature and availability of government and company land, helped negotiate land purchase agreements, and arranged reduced transportation rates for colonists and settlers intending to settle along the line. He also took a leading role in efforts to convince Congress to extend additional homestead and preemption benefits to Civil War veterans and their families.
In April, 1872, Hibbard was promoted to superintendent of emigration and given responsibility for supervising all of the company's domestic operations connected with immigration. In large part his new duties consisted of helping plan the itineraries and making the necessary travel arrangements for representatives of European colony associations or for influential European investors visiting the United States to inspect Northern Pacific lands. He was also responsible for super vising the construction and maintenance of the company's three immigrant reception houses in Minnesota. The following spring, anticipating the arrival of large numbers of European settlers and colonists, the Land Department opened an immigration office near the New York immigrant reception facility at Castle Garden. Sheppard and his agents kept Hibbard apprised of the departures of groups of emigrants intending to settle on lands bordering the Northern Pacific line. Hibbard arranged to have someone meet the immigrants upon their arrival in this country, made preparations for their safe passage to Minnesota (where virtually all of these immigrants were expected to settle), and helped them deal with any difficulties they encountered after their arrival.
The collapse of Jay Cooke & Co, forced the closing of the immigration office and the suspension of Hibbard's immigration work. The entire promotional campaign also had to be discontinued and the New York office staff was reduced to the absolute minimum needed to handle correspondence and expedite sales contracts and transfers of deeds.
The failure of Jay Cooke & Co. was the pivotal event in the early history of the railroad. "The great thoroughfare of the northwest" was discredited in the eyes of the public; it was blamed by many for causing the downfall of the highly respected banking house. This view was not entirely inaccurate, for while the railroad was not solely responsible for Jay Cooke's difficulties, it was undoubtedly one of the main factors contributing to the collapse of the firm. The loss of public confidence and the depressed economy made it difficult for the railroad to raise the funds needed to continue operations. Although land sales were up considerably, nearly all purchases were made with bonds, so that these sales, while reducing the company's bonded indebtedness, provided little in the way of operating capital. Despite at tempts to raise money (by selling off investments or leasing or selling surplus rolling stock, for example) and to implement stringent cost cutting measures (dismissing staff, cutting back operations and rail service, and halting construction), the company was able to stave off bankruptcy only until 1875. In April of that year, a federal judge ordered the company into receivership. Frederick Billings devised a bold plan for reorganization whereby the company could retire most of its outstanding debt and obtain the additional financing it needed to proceed. The reorganization, completed in September, 1875, enabled the Northern Pacific Railroad Company to embark cautiously on a new beginning.
Contains selection lists, contested selection legal dockets, survey field books, and land examination files reflect the acquisition and initial control of the Northern Pacific land grant. Extensive contract files and related records document the purchase of company land parcels and the settlement of large areas of the northwestern states. Lease records evidence the exploitation of the land’s timber, mineral, and grazing resources. Substantial correspondence and subject files document the topics noted above, as well as all other aspects of the ongoing management of the land holdings over a hundred year period. They include information on townsite development and settlement activity; on taxes, land ownership disputes, and other relations with federal, state, and local governmental units; on the value of the natural resources contained in the land grant; on fire prevention and other conservation efforts; on the development of irrigation policies and systems; and on the continual development of the land as an economic policies and systems; and on the continual development of the land as an economic resource. Accounting records document the financial transactions relating to land sale and management.
These documents are organized into the following sections:
Originals for the microfilmed Letters Sent, Letters Received and Related Records, and Printed Materials are closed to general use.
Microfilmed originals of the Land Examination Field Books: Washington are closed to general use.
M446: Letters Received and Related Records; Letters Sent; Printer Material; Land Committee Minutes. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society, 1983. 38 microfilm reels.
M505: Land Examination field Books: Washington. Saint Paul : Minnesota Historical Society, 1986. 24 microfilm reels.
M578: Land Grant Contest Cards. Bloomington, MN: Integrated Imaging Systems, 1994. 39 microfilm reels.
Microfilm produced by the Minnesota Historical Society is available for sale or interlibrary loan from the Minnesota Historical Society.
The originals (53 cubic feet) of the land grant contest cards (M578) were disposed after microfilming.
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11,024; 11,025; 11,026; 11,027; 11,028; 11,029; 11,030; 11,031; 11,032; 11,033; 11,034; 11,035; 11,036; 11,037; 11,038; 11,039; 11,040; 11,041; 11,042; 11,043; 11,044; 11,045; 11,046; 11,047; 11,048; 11,049; 11,050; 11,051; 11,052; 11,053; 11,054; 11,055; 11,056; 11,057; 11,058; 11,059; 11,060; 11,061; 11,062; 11,063; 11,064; 11,065; 11,066; 11,067; 11,068; 11,069; 11,071; 11,087; 11,092; 11,093; 11,094; 11,095; 11,096; 11,097; 11,098; 11,099; 11,100; 11,101; 11,102; 11,103; 11,104; 11,105; 11,106; 11,107; 11,108; 11,109; 11,110, 11,111; 11,147; 11,148; 11,149; 11,150; 11,151; 11,152; 11,153; 11,154; 11,155; 11,156; 11,157; 11,158; 11,159; 11,160; 11,161; 11,162; 11,163; 11,164; 11,165; 11,166; 11,167; 11,168; 11,169; 11,170; 11,171; 11,172; 11,173; 11,174; 11,175; 11,176; 11,177; 11,178; 11,179; 11,180; 11,181; 11,182; 11,183; 11,184; 11,185; 11,186; 11,187; 11,188; 11,189; 11,190; 11,191; 11,192; 11,193; 11,194; 11,195; 11,196; 11,197; 11,198; 11,199; 11,200; 11,201; 11,202; 11,203; 11,204; 11,205; 11,206; 11,207; 11,208; 11,209; 11,210; 11,211; 11,212; 11,213; 11,214; 11,215; 11,216; 11,217; 11,218; 11,219; 11,220; 11,221; 11,222; 11,225; 11,226; 11,227; 11,228; 11,229; 11,230; 11,231; 11,232; 11,233; 11,234; 11,235; 11,236l 11,237; 11,238; 11,239; 11,240; 11,241; 11,242; 11,243; 11,244; 11,245; 11,246; 11,247; 11,248; 11,249; 11,250; 11,251; 11,252; 11,253; 11,254; 11,255; 11,256; 11,257; 11,258; 11,259; 11,260; 11,261; 11,262; 11,263; 11,264; 11,265; 11,266; 11,267; 11,268; 11,269; 11,270; 11,271; 11,272; 11,273; 11,274; 11,275; 11,276; 11,277; 11,278; 11,279; 11,280; 11,281; 11,282; 11,283; 11,284; 11,285; 11,286; 11,287; 11,288; 11,289; 11,290; 11,291; 11,292; 11,293; 11,294; 11,295; 11,296; 11,382; 11,383; 11,384; 11,388; 11,389; 11,390; 11,391; 11,392; 11,393; 11,394; 11,395; 11,396; 11,397; 11,398; 11,399; 11,400; 11,401; 11,402; 11,403; 11,404; 11,405; 11,406; 11,407; 11,408; 11,409; 11,410; 11,411; 11,412; 11,413; 11,414; 11,415; 11,416; 11,417; 11,418; 11,419; 11,420; 11,421; 11,422; 11,423; 11,424; 11,425; 11,426; 11,427; 11,428; 11,429; 11,430; 11,431; 11,432; 11,433; 11,434; 11,435; 11,436; 11,437; 11,438; 11,439; 11,440; 11,441; 11,442; 11,443; 11,444; 11,445; 11,446; 11,447; 11,451; 11,452; 11,453; 11,454; 11,455; 11,456; 11,457; 11,458; 11,459; 11,460; 11,461; 11,462; 11,463; 11,464; 11,465; 11,466; 11,467; 11,468; 11,498; 11,499; 11,500; 11,501; 11,502; 11,503; 11,504; 11,505; 11,506; 11,507; 11,508; 11,509; 11,510; 11,511; 11,512; 11,513; 11,519; 11,523; 11,524; 11,557; 11,558; 11,559; 11,560; 11,561; 11,562; 11,563; 11,564; 11,565; 11,566; 11,567; 11,568; 11,569; 11,570; 11,572; 11,573; 11,574; 11,575; 11,576; 11,577; 11,578; 11,579; 11,580; 11,581; 11,582; 11,583; 11,584; 11,585; 11,586; 11,587; 11,588; 11,589; 11,590; 11,591; 11,592; 11,593; 11,594; 11,595; 11,596; 11,597; 11,598; 11,599; 11,600; 11,601; 11,602; 11,603; 11,604; 11,605; 11,606; 11,607; 11,608; 11,609; 11,610; 11,611; 11,612; 11,613; 11,614; 11,615; 11,616; 11,617; 11,618; 11,619; 11,620; 11,621; 11,622; 11,623; 11,624; 11,625; 11,626; 11,627; 11,628; 11,629; 11,630; 11,631; 11,632; 11,633; 11,634; 11,635; 11,657; 11,665; 11,671; 11,672; 11,677; 11,678; 11,680; 11,684; 11,686; 11,687; 11,688; 11,689; 11,690; 11,691; 11,692; 11,693; 11,694; 11,695; 11,696; 11,697; 11,698; 11,730; 11,838; 16,926; 17,161
Catalog ID numbers: 990017199140104294; 990066167440104294 (Land Department Records, Microfilm M446); 990017156730104292 (Land Examination Field Books: Washington, Microfilm M505); 990029079630104294 (Land Grant Contest Cards, Microfilm M578)
Work on the Northern Pacific Railway Company records was supported with funds granted by the Northwest Area Foundation, the Grotto Foundation, and the Jerome Foundation.
Additional material concerning the Northern Pacific’s land grants and right of way in Minnesota is found among the records of the State Land Office in the Minnesota State Archives.
Additional material can also be found in the Secretary's records: Letters Received, Unregistered: President, Vice President and Other Offices. These materials contain letters, reports, financial statements, maps, and miscellany received by the Northern Pacific corporate officers and relating to a broad range of topics.
Series includes contracts, correspondence, plats, and related papers. Contracts are with the Northern Pacific Railroad Company unless noted otherwise.
Series includes contracts, correspondence, plats and related papers.
Incomplete.
Series includes contracts, correspondence and related papers.
Contract Nos. 1094, 1225, and 1400 are located in 135.I.18.8F.
Series includes correspondence and related papers pertaining to the contracts.
Series includes contract documents and other legal materials, correspondence, memoranda and maps.
Series includes correspondence and related papers pertaining to contracts.
Incomplete.
Series includes contract documents only. Correspondence, maps and related papers are in the following series.
The last box contains files that interfile with the rest of the series.
The last box contains files that interfile with the rest of the series.
Series includes contract documents only. Correspondence, maps and related papers are in the following series.
The last box contains files that interfile with the rest of the series.
Missing File Nos. 12560-12609.
Series includes contract documents and related papers, correspondence and contract payment records.
Report of land contracts cancelled, including town lots, some timber and miscellaneous and grazing, for all of the Northern Pacific divisions, from May 1884 through 1951. Data includes the date of sale, contract number, name of purchaser, description of land, acres, amount sold for, payments received and due (date and amount), retained by company, refunded, and why cancelled. Some years prior to December 1899 are missing.
Some divisions overlap in 1909.
Indexed by surnames listing the contract numbers for land sales of Pend d'Oreille land, Pend d'Oreille town property, Pacific land, and Pacific town property.
Entries in the volume are organized by contract numbers (1-3485) listing the names of purchasers, description of land, acreage, amount due, date payable, and the payments received. All entries are dated October 31, 1891.
The land sales are recorded in bound volumes showing: contract number; date; purchaser; purchaser's address; description of parcel sold; acreage; value per acre; payments, when and how made; commission, if any, paid; deed number; date of deed; rights reserved, if any; deed number of any subsequent deed issued affecting reserved rights.
Dates are approximate.
Each patent is a bound volume conveying certain lands to the railroad from the United States per the Land Grant Act.
Selections of public lands made by the Northern Pacific Railway Company as inuring to it under grants of July 2, 1864 and May 31, 1870 in United States Land Districts.
Docket of land cases heard in United States Circuit, District, and Superior courts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Montana, North Dakota, and Washington. The cases involve timber trespass, restraining sale of lands, taxes, ejectment, and title to lands. Indexed.
Docket recording the results of land cases against Northern Pacific by the United States Land Office and individuals in Montana, Washington, Idaho, and Oregon.
Watershed valuations of the Northern Pacific Railway Indemnity lands in Montana, Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming. The material includes exhibits of timber and land values of the surveyed and unsurveyed odd and even sections in the national forests. The records consist of correspondence, field examinations, reports, maps, photos, and other related records.
Dockets listing the number of the contest, name, entry and filing, description of tract, land district, attorneys, nature of allegations (dates and statements), action in the case (date and statements), and remarks. The dockets list cases 1-3251 and the names of the contestants are indexed in the front of each volume.
The series consists of microfilmed cards summarizing the status and eventual disposition of those land parcels within the original Northern Pacific federal land grant that were later contested by other parties. They provide information on lands in the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
When the Northern Pacific Railroad Company (the predecessor of the Northern Pacific Railway) was chartered in 1864 it received the largest land grant ever awarded by the United States Congress. This grant was variously estimated at 47-60 million acres and consisted, with a few exceptions, of the odd-numbered sections of land lying within ten miles on either side of the line through established states and within 20 miles either side of the line through territories. Following the grant, the railroad was to file a completed survey route with the Department of the Interior, which would then withdraw the designated parcels from public sale. However, the railroad was not permitted to take control of a given land parcel until the rail line was completed through that area. When the railroad was finally able to take possession of a group of parcels, it often found some tracts already occupied--by error or intent--by homesteaders, loggers, ranchers, and others. Meanwhile, during the 1870s-1920s, Congress passed a number of laws (the most widely cited being that of July 1, 1898) providing for the disposition of granted lands that had already been occupied. If the federal government had inadvertently sold the land, or if it had been settled in good faith, Northern Pacific was required to relinquish the contested parcel and, in exchange, it would be permitted to select another parcel of equal area ("indemnity lands"). This process was actively pursued throughout the 1899-1931 period.
The land grant contest cards document all the contests that arose over the ownership of particular land parcels during this period. The more than 40,000 microfilmed cards (8 1/2 x 14 in.) that comprise the series are identical preprinted forms recording summary data on all the relevant transactions affecting the contested land parcels. Each records the legal description of the affected parcel (which varied greatly in size); the dates on which it was surveyed and on which a plat was filed; dates on which various transactions occurred to assure that it was withdrawn from the public domain; dates and miscellaneous notes indicating the progress of the contest claim through various jurisdictions, and notes on the final decision; data on claims to the land filed by parties contesting Northern Pacific' s ownership; and data on the ultimate sale of the parcel if Northern Pacific disposed of it.
Inventory of land grant property by county and township, giving the title; total acres; the acres and value of the irrigable, timbered, tillable, grazing, coal, and miscellaneous lands owned by Northern Pacific Railway Company in Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon; lands owned by NWI in Washington, Oregon, and North Dakota.
Wisconsin and Minnesota lands listed by range, as surveyed giving township, section, and acres; part of section and acres enuring to the grant; part of section, how disposed of by government and acres excepted from the grant; and if listed in indemnity lists the part of section, list, and acres.
Abstract of entries and filings on odd sections, Montana Division, divided into Bozeman district, Helena district, and Bitter Root lands in the Helena district.
This series of volumes contains the Northern Pacific Land Department's record of granted lands to which it relinquished ownership during the 1899-1931 period. After making the Northern Pacific a land grant railroad in its charter, the federal government passed a number of laws from the 1870s to the 1920s (the most widely cited law in these records was passed on July 1, 1898) providing for the disposition of Northern Pacific granted lands which had already been occupied by settlers. If the federal government had sold the land, or if it had been settled in good faith, the Northern Pacific was to relinquish ownership of the land and, in exchange, it would be allowed to select other land of equal area ("indemnity lands").
The various acts required the Secretary of the Interior to notify the Northern Pacific periodically of which lands were to be relinquished. The volumes in this series contain the notices, arranged by state and by date, as well as notarized statements by Northern Pacific officials acknowledging that the lands had in fact been relinquished. The notices list the lands by location (range, township, section, and tract) and by claimant (name, homestead application number, and length of residence on the land). Also included in the volumes is correspondence concerning the notices, mostly between the Northern Pacific Land Department, and between these two departments and the United States Department of the Interior. Most of this correspondence merely acknowledges the content of the notices.
Missing List 16.
Relinquished under the Act of February 28, 1919.
Relinquished under the Act of February 28, 1919.
Relinquished under Congressional Acts of June 22, 1874 and August 29, 1890.
Relinquished under various Congressional Acts of the 1920s.
Tissue copies of lists (legal descriptions and acreage) of lands that were surrendered by the Northern Pacific to the United States government in exchange for the right to select replacements from indemnity lands. They also include affidavits describing lands already sold by the railroad and therefore exempted from relinquishment.
Deeds, title abstracts, other legal instruments, correspondence and memoranda. The files include lands situated on the Northern Pacific right of way, and contain deeds conveying such properties from the NWI Company to other parties, as well as those acquiring title to right of way lands by the NWI Company.
Bound volumes with tissue copies of original deeds conveyed by the NWI Company. Later deed copies are on printed company forms or carbon copies.
Missing No. 21.
Bound volumes with tissue copies of original deeds conveyed by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company and Northern Pacific Railway Company. Later deed copies are on printed company forms, carbon copies or xerox copies.
Includes sales of right of way belonging to different branch lines in Minnesota, cost, purchaser, and related material. Indexed.
A record book documenting the conveyance to Northern Pacific of a large number of land parcels in the Superior, Wisconsin townsite area, and in eastern portions of Duluth, Minnesota.
Record of the deeds of the Northern Pacific Railroad lands and town lots, by division, executed by the trustee of the First Mortgage Bondholders, 1873-1897.
There were no deed numbers between 1092 and 1500.
Annual reports of the operations of the Kennewick Orchards beginning with the 1926-1927 report (submitted in 1929) through 1935. Also included are monthly statements of expenditures, 1932-1936. These reports were forwarded to J. M. Hughes, Land Commissioner by the Western Land Agent.
Kennewick Orchards comprised about 150 acres of property planted in fruit trees (mostly apples) around the city of Kennewick in southeastern Washington. The property was acquired by the Northwestern Improvement Company in the 1920s and was improved and managed for eventual sale to private orchard operators.
Outgoing letters from various Northern Pacific Land Department officials.
Two different methods of arrangement were used by the Land Department to file outgoing correspondence. Under the system first employed, letters were arranged primarily by author. Volumes 1-14 follow this pattern. A new system was instituted in September, 1872, whereby each letter was filed according to its destination or recipient. Volumes 15-24 reflect this arrangement.
For letters sent by the Superintendent of Emigration (May-August 2, 1873), see Volume 445A of the Northern Pacific Secretary, Receivers, Letters Sent: Purchasing Committee records.
The microfilm edition of the Letters Sent (M446, rolls 15-32) are further described in
Pages 46-79.
Pages 1-45.
Created by MHS processing staff, these sheets contain data summarizing in greater detail the content of the letters.
Letters received by the Northern Pacific Land Department in New York City.
The microfilmed edition of the Letters Received and Related Records (M446, rolls 1-14) are further described in
Created by MHS processing staff, these sheets contain data summarizing the content of the letters in greater detail.
The microfilm edition of the Printed Materials (M446, rolls 33-37) are further described in
Arranged chronologically.
Includes materials issued by Jay Cooke & Co. relating to its financial agreement with the Northern Pacific, the railroad's land grant, and projected business of the road; materials issued by or on behalf of the Northern Pacific relating to its charter and amendments, the organization of the company, and the terrain through which the road was to pass; regulations, progress reports, blank forms, annual report (1876), and Northern Pacific land examiners' manuals; and materials relating generally to a northern route for a transcontinental railroad. The latter include descriptions of terrain, climate, natural resources, and possible routes; and appeals for congressional action and aid by, among others, Isaac Stevens, Henry Rice, Josiah Perham, Ignatius Donnelly, William Windom, and Alexander Ramsey.
Arranged alphabetically.
Includes pamphlets, circulars, leaflets, maps, prospectuses, bylaws, regulations, advertisements, lists of lands for sale, and information for prospective settlers.
Arranged chronologically within each record type.
Includes congressional bills, acts, resolutions, and reports (1854-1874); U.S. General Land Office circulars (1821-1874) and blank homestead and preemption forms (1860s-1870s); U.S. Bureau of Statistics report (1871); and State of Minnesota promotional pamphlets (1870-1872).
Includes: Letter, February 17, 1865; Chas. Whittlesey to Hon. A. C. Stuntz Boston Board of Trade resolutions, May 7, 1866; Memorial of the Northern Michigan Railroad Company Financial Agents circular, 1870s.
Arranged alphabetically, A-U.
Letterpress copies of outgoing letters written by members of the Land Committee, which was headquartered in New York, to Northern Pacific officials and others on the selection of grant lands, deeds, relinquishments, swamp lands, disputed claims, and land sales.
The majority of letters were written by George Gray, counsel; George Stark, committee chairman; and Leonard R. Kidder, committee clerk and secretary. Other writers include Ashbel H. Barney, president; Thomas F. Oakes, vice president; Anthony J. Thomas; Henry Villard, president; Reece M. Newport, general land agent; George V. Sims, general European agent; Robert Harris, president; James B. Williams, vice president; George H. Earl; and Charles F. Coaney. Copies of a few committee reports to the Northern Pacific board of directors are also included.
Letterpress copies of outgoing letters from the office of the Northern Pacific land commissioners: Charles B. Lamborn (September 1882-April 1894), William H. Phipps (May 1894-March 1904), and Thomas Cooper (April 1904-June 1908).
The contents of the letters reflect the course of settlement and development of the lands along the line, particularly land sales in Dakota, Montana, and Washington; development of towns and townsites; farms in Dakota and ranches in Dakota and Montana; negotiations with irrigation companies for ditches and pumping facilities; lumbering; coal and other mineral lands, and their development by the Northwestern Improvement Company.
After the 1893 depression, the letters concentrate more heavily on problems with land sales decline and defaults; competition with the Great Northern and the Soo Line for immigrants and settlers; surveying and selection of the remaining lands within the indemnity limits; legal matters regarding land patents, contests, and taxes; and routine aspects of land sales and management. Many letters are illegible.
Pages 694-698 are dated April 11-12, 1884 to President, Belknap Town & Improvement Company, Belknap, Montana and Moreland Farm Company, Helena, Montana.
Includes memos to Brayton Ives of deposits at 2nd National Bank, St. Paul.
All relating to passes.
Copies of outgoing letters and telegrams written by Milton T. Sanders, James B. Kerr, and Grafton Mason, concerning legal aspects of such matters as rights of way, Northern Pacific's indemnity claims, taxes, leases, land titles and claims, relinquishments, timber depredation, and associated subjects.
Letters to the Land Department from various Northern Pacific officials regarding land sales, deeds, relinquishments, legislation, advertising, and immigration. Letter writers include J. W. Sprague, Samuel A. Black, R. M. Newport, W. K. Mendenhall, James B. Power, George Gray, and Charles Lamborn.
A fragmented group of miscellaneous letters addressed to Northern Pacific agents in New York from various other passenger, freight, and emigration agents and from land commissioner James B. Power, largely regarding advertising and promotional needs and the production of advertising literature and displays. Authors include: Andrus, W. C., General Eastern Passenger Agent; Barnes, G. K., General Passenger and Ticket Agent; Groat, P. B., General Emigration Agent; Hannaford, Jule M., Assistant General Freight and Passenger Agent; Johnson, 0. J., General Scandinavian Agent; Powers, James B., Land Commissioner; Quin, A. J., Traveling Agent; Roedelheimer, A., General European Agent; Sanborn, G. G., General Freight and Ticket Agent; Sheppard, George, General European Agent; and Stokes, A. L., General Eastern Passenger Agent.
Letterpress copies of letters of Henry J. Winser, Chief of the Land Department's Bureau of Information. Most of the letters ask or thank people for the information on settlement, agriculture, mining, and industry along the Northern Pacific line that he used in preparing promotional literature; some respond to requests for literature. Also included are letters to German artist Baron von Schilling, engaged to prepare illustrations; and Winser's reports (August 1882) to Henry Villard and Thomas F. Oakes regarding various aspects of industry and development along the line.
Carbon copies of letters from Land Department officials to Britton & Gray, Washington, D.C., legal counsels for the Northern Pacific. Most of the letters concern general or routine legal matters regarding such subjects as land selection, land losses, relinquishments, appeals, claims of individuals, mineral classifications, patents, surveys, forest reserve lands, Indian reservations, timber trespass, and land legislation. The letters are from land commissioners Thomas Cooper and J. M. Hughes, general adjustment agent L. L. Schwarm, and land attorney Grafton Mason.
Typed carbon copies of letters and telegrams written by Land Department officials to G. H. Plummer, western land agent, who was stationed in Tacoma, Washington, and was responsible for land negotiations in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.
The letters reflect the Northern Pacific's continuing effort to sell its western lands. Many concern routine matters, such as land contracts, deeds, patents, selections, relinquishments, rights of way, surveys, and homestead claims. Others concern evaluations of indemnity lands; relations with lumber companies; Northern Pacific's cooperation with forestry organizations to alleviate fires, trespassing, and white pine blister rust in western forests; irrigation projects in Washington; mining, prospecting, and grazing permits and leases; and other aspects of the settlement and development of the northwestern United States.
The majority of the letters were written by land commissioners Thomas Cooper and J. M. Hughes and by William Waugh, L. L. Schwarm, J. H. Cook, and J. H. A. Hirst.
Registers for which the related correspondence has not been located, containing a number for each letter, date of letter, name, date received, a brief description of contents, and the disposition made of the letter. The letters indexed were received by the Northern Pacific Railroad land department, western divisions.
Western Land Agent's Special Subject files; related to Northern Pacific's management of its land grant in the western United States. Primarily concerned with forest management, lumbering, and with the Company's development of its properties and the natural resources under its control in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.
Files consist of correspondence, memoranda, and related reports and support documents, including topographic and timber maps, maps of burned-over acreage and accompanying narrative reports, aerial photographs, blueprint plat maps, legal briefs and judicial opinions, meteorological data, news clippings, and various informational and statistical reports. The bulk of the material concerns Northern Pacific's management of its forest lands, and includes information about timber sales, lumbering, and slash disposal, state and federal legislation, forestry, forest fires and their prevention, and Northern Pacific's involvement with forest fire patrols and preventative associations. There is also information concerning land surveys, prices, and exchanges; real estate taxes; forest pests and timber diseases; Northern Pacific's aerial photography program; livestock grazing on Company lands; mining; land and resource related litigation; the Columbia Basin irrigation project; and the Mowatt-Morning Town development (a Seattle-area housing project in which the Northern Pacific and the Boise Cascade Building Company were collaborators).
The correspondence is primarily between the western land agents and Northern Pacific land commissioners. There is correspondence with other Northern Pacific officials, state foresters, the United States Forest Service, the United States Department of Agriculture, various federal, state, and local government representatives, and with other corporations.
Cancelled circa 1949.
This series consists of special reports, individually numbered, covering a variety of topics relating to land management in the western region of the Northern Pacific. The reports are divided into the Pacific Division; Pend d'Oreille Division; and an unidentified series, with an index to each of the units. The correspondence, memoranda, reports, and other related documents were directed to and from the land agents and land commissioners, namely Paul Schulze, Thomas Cooper, G. H. Plummer, J. M. Hughes, and William H. Phipps. Some of the subjects include: timber trespass, platting town lots, price lists, land examinations, water power developments, water supply, irrigation, lime deposits, mineral classifications, surveys, selections, leases, beet sugar, and geological reports.
This volume originally formed part of a set of corporate records maintained by the Northern Pacific Secretary's office.
This series includes typed copies of letters from land commissioner John M. Hughes to Howard Elliott (1919) and Charles Donnelly (1919-1930), containing substantial detailed information on many aspects of the Northern Pacific's properties, activities, and interests in Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.
Subjects discussed include mineral resources, mining properties and leases, and relations with mining companies, particularly for coal, oil, and iron ore; grazing lands; forest resources and management; relations with lumber companies; grazing lands; other real estate holdings; land sales and prices; agriculture; irrigation; immigration; and national and state parks and forests.
The six volumes contain letterpress copies of letters written by Schulze which contain information not only of his being general land agent for Northern Pacific, but also his associations with other companies such as Northern Pacific, Yakima & Kittitas Irrigation Company, Yakima Investment Company, Northern Land & Development Company and the Olympic Land & Investment Company.
Correspondence and related papers of the cases involved in the embezzlement by Paul Schulze, Northern Pacific General Land Agent in Tacoma, of a large amount of land department and other funds received by him in his official capacities. The checks and drafts were sent to Schulze to be applied on Northern Pacific land contracts. He reportedly used the money to personally invest in various enterprises. Statements made by Alfred Anderson and E. N. Castillo to Thomas Cooper (May 17, 1895) give details of their knowledge of the transactions. Also included are statements showing the disposition of the money misappropriated; agreements and deeds; right of way deeds; correspondence and other papers relating to the individual cases.
In addition to being Northern Pacific general land agent, Schulze was associated with the Northern Pacific, Yakima & Kittitas Irrigation Company, Yakima Investment Company, Northern Land & Development Company, Olympic Land & Investment Company, and others.
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Correspondence and related papers (1890-1898) relating to the "St. Paul Syndicate" and the purchase of unsold lands of the Northern Pacific Railroad, in Spokane, Washington. The syndicate was originally composed of L. C. Dillman and John H. Stone of Spokane, and N. C. Thrall, assistant to the Northern Pacific President, however, others including Paul Schulze, General Land Agent and T. B. Wallace, President of Fidelity Trust Company became involved. A plan was devised to use the monies from the sale of some of the lands to provide station and yard facilities at Spokane Falls. Schulze and others were alleged to have wrongfully appropriated the money received, subsequently legal actions occurred.
Miscellaneous subject files involving Northern Pacific lands.
The files consist of a portion of the land commissioner's subject files that deal with oil and gas topics affecting the land department. Amongst the files are applications for oil and gas exploration and development permits on Northern Pacific lands; leases granted for oil and gas exploitation; locations of gas and oil wells on Northern Pacific lauds; oil discoveries and development by the Northern Pacific; and reports on various oil companies.
The Bureau of Immigration was established in 1882 with offices in St. Paul and in Portland, Oregon, and worked in conjunction with the Bureau of Information, also begun in 1882, both under the jurisdiction of the Land Department. The purpose of the bureaus was to gather and formulate information concerning the resources of the country through which Northern Pacific passed, so that material could be printed directing settlers to the lands. Henry J. Winser, Chief of the Bureau of Information at St. Paul, was responsible for gathering and publishing the data and Paul Schulze, Western Land Agent with offices at Portland, managed affairs of the Bureau of Immigration on the Pacific Coast.
These questionnaires were removed from a volume labeled by Northern Pacific "Replies to Circulars, 1883." In February and March, 1883, Schulze sent them to various people, including newspaper editors and county officials, in Washington and Idaho territories and the state of Oregon, in response to a request by Winser for information on this area, needed for a guidebook for tourists and prospective settlers. Data on the completed questionnaire forms includes figures on population, types of industries, acreage cultivated, and crops raised. Counties in Idaho Territory include Nez Perce. Counties in Oregon include Baker, Clatsop, Coos, Crook, Curry, Douglas, Grant, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath, Lane, Linn, Multnomah, Polk, Tillamook, Umatilla, Union, Wasco, and Yamhill. Counties in Washington Territory include Chehalis, Columbia, Cowlitz, Garfield, Island, King, Kitsap, Klickitat, Pacific, San Juan, Snohomish, Spokane, Stevens, Wahkiakum, Whatcom, Whitman, and Yakima.
Distribution record of various advertising materials sent to individual foreign agents and steamship companies.
Expenses related to advertising incurred by the agents.
District agents were appointed on a commission basis by the Land Department to promote settlers to railroad lands in Minnesota and Dakota. They were assigned certain districts in which to distribute advertising matter.
Arranged by name.
Arranged by counties.
Miscellaneous correspondence and memorandums regarding iron ore leases of the Mesabi-Cuyuna iron ore districts by Northwestern Improvement Company. Also included are reports and tonnage tables. The correspondence is between Thomas Cooper, Land Commissioner, Howard Elliott, President, and Carl Zapffee, Geologist.
Letterpress copies of monthly reports of various new leases and cancellations for the western district. The reports include lease number, name of lessee, description of land, annual rent, terms, cancellation notice, and purpose of lease. A few grazing leases are also included.
Bound volumes listing temporary encumbrances and easements on Eastern lands, granted by the Northern Pacific and Northwestern Improvement Company showing: name of grantee; date; legal description; acreage and deed number of easements.
Incomplete. Includes contract documents and other legal instruments, correspondence, maps, and miscellaneous supporting papers.
A chronological file list and a numerical file list providing names of persons holding the timber and miscellaneous contracts, and other pertinent data on the contracts. If the contract sought is not found in the first list, consult the second as well. Both are arranged numerically by contract file number.
Includes lease documents, correspondence, and property maps. Incomplete.
Volume containing the lease number, date issued, name and address of lessee, description of property, consideration, date and amount payable, date and amount received, and remarks, for Washington and Oregon.
Volumes containing the lease number, date issued, name and address of lessee, description of property, consideration, date and amount of payment received, purpose for lease, terms, and remarks, for the Eastern Division.
Includes many transfers from Volume 1.
Land surveyors' field notebooks (pocket-sized) arranged by land sections, and containing general descriptions of Northern Pacific land in North Dakota.
The fieldbooks contain topographical sketches, timber footage estimates, breakdowns of timber by species, land grades and values, and narrative descriptions of timber and land quality. Some books contain thorough information. Other books contain less information.
Land surveyors' field notebooks (pocket-sized) arranged by land sections, and containing general descriptions of Northern Pacific lands in Montana. The fieldbooks contain topographical sketches, timber footage estimates, breakdowns of timber by species, land grades and values, and narrative descriptions of timber and land quality. Some books contain thorough information. Other books contain less information.
Land surveyors' field notebooks (pocket-sized), arranged by land sections, and containing fairly thorough penciled descriptions of Northern Pacific western lands, primarily in Washington.
The field books contain topographical sketches, timber footage estimates, breakdowns of timber by species, land grades and values, and narrative descriptions of timber and land quality.
Includes only the volume covers and indexes.
Land Department office records of Northern Pacific lands surveyed from the Willamette Meridian.
The pages include the name of the examiner, a section map showing topographical features, and a general narrative summary of land quality, vegetation including timber, and improvements. Valuations of timber and agricultural lands are listed on some pages.
Includes index.
Includes correspondence regarding survey.
Files include formal land examination reports, occupancy reports, timber and mineral reports, legal decisions, valuations, correspondence, and miscellaneous papers.
T7N/R4E includes photos only.
The files include formal land examination reports, occupancy reports, timber and mineral reports, legal decisions, valuations, correspondence, and other miscellaneous papers.
Includes blueprints and maps.
The field examination files contain a topographic sketch, the amount of land value and grade, timber estimates, and the character of timber on the land. They are filed by township and range within each of the meridians: Boise, Willamette, and Missoula.
Reports by field examiners of qualities, conditions, and values of various classes of timber on Northern Pacific lands in Minnesota.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
Ceded Red Lake Reservation.
The series includes miscellaneous timber accounting records, stumpage records, registers of timber operations by the Land Department, and correspondence. The correspondence and related papers contain information on timber permits, timber trespassing, Northern Pacific timber inspectors, lumber production, timber cutting practices, and the administration of Northern Pacific timber lands.
Includes contracts for timber, hay, and wood.
Includes contracts for timber, hay, and wood.
Record of logs marked for Fox Wisdam Lumber Company.
Regarding furnishing of seed grain by Northern Pacific on account of crop failures.
Includes instructions to land examiners and timber inspectors (Folder 15), and information regarding lumber mills and Northern Pacific timber inspectors.
Including information regarding lumber mills and Northern Pacific timber inspectors.
Includes information regarding lumber mills, stumpage, ties, and other matters.
Includes information regarding lumber mills, stumpage, ties, price lists, and other matters.
Correspondence, agreements, contracts, estimates, various reports, summaries, statements, maps, newspaper clippings, and printed materials (1901-1945) relating to the logging operations in the Cedar River watershed district of Seattle. It was felt the previous arrangement was injurious to the watershed and a possible source of danger to the purity of Seattle's water supply and a new agreement was reached in 1945. The two largest private holdings of timber were the Northern Pacific and the Weyerhaeuser Company. An index precedes the files.
Various detailed timber reports including maps, graphs, and photographs.
Indexed.
Reports on water power from Minnesota to Washington, made by land agents, engineers, and various other field people to the president of Northern Pacific from December 1904 to April 1920, with Volume 3 being a synopsis of the reports for each state. Each volume contains an index of the individual reports.
Arranged by state.
Irrigation reports made by engineers, land examiners, and various other field personnel to the president of Northern Pacific. Each volume has an index.
The examination reports contain information regarding geologic formations and topographical features. They include narrative descriptions of drainage systems, watersheds, and coal beds; maps showing locations of coal and mineral deposits; and photographs of particular deposits and formations.
Detailed descriptions, usually monthly, of the oil and gas development in Montana and northern Wyoming. They contain information on the sells commenced, completed, abandoned, including some maps showing locations, production, and shipments. The August 1919 report is titled "Oil and gas development in the Northern Pacific Land Grant in Montana and Wyoming."
Includes list of swamp and overflowed lands selected from the field notes of the surveys as inuring to the state of Minnesota under the Act of September 28, 1850, extended to said State by the Act of 12th of March 1860. Arranged by township and range. Data includes the description of land, section, township, range, and area.
Price lists for various town lots giving block and lot number, and price per lot, 1887-1889. The price lists for lands include description, number of acres, and price per acre, Minnesota and Dakota lands.
Files containing correspondence between land agents, land commissioners, and interested parties; maps; and other related papers relating to lands reserved for sale by Northern Pacific for various reasons.
Township plats showing lands embraced in "schedule" (Northern Pacific Railroad v St. Paul Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway) falling outside of original and present 20 mile limits of withdrawals for Northern Pacific Railroad.
Folders 1 and 2 contain plats, price lists and other promotional material for town lots in Minnesota, Dakota, Montana, and Washington. Folder 3 includes Oregon promotional materials regarding Oregon Fruit and Farm Homes Colony; Orchard Homes Colony at Arcadia; Arcadia Fruit Lands Colony; and Arcadia Garden-Orchard Homes Colony, 1896-1899.
Many clippings refer to Great Northern.
Advertises the availability of arable land along its route and contains text and engravings on both sides and begins with the heading "60 Million Bushels of Wheat Raised in 1882 in Minnesota and North Dakota the Great and Prosperous Northern Pacific Country."
Contains maps of the counties and historical information: general history, the Black Hills, and county histories.
Includes Cass, Itasca, and Mille Lacs counties, Minnesota.
Minnesota township plats with lands compared with deed books, 1873-1875; areas and total areas corrected March 1873. Lands colored yellow indicate "congressional"; colored red "swamp"; and colored green "outside of regular grants." Volumes originally numbered 1 to 6, number 1 was not located.
Also shows Northern Pacific line and foreign railroad lines. Corrected to 1909.
Indicates tillable lands, grazing land, and wagon roads.
This is a revision of a map originally made in 1931.
A listing of maps of surveyed and unsurveyed national forest lands located in Montana (maps 1-15B), Wyoming (16-16A), Idaho (17-21B), and Washington (22-26A). Encompasses lands located in the Absaroka, Beartooth, Beaverhead, Bitterroot, Blackfeet, Custer, Deerlodge, Flathead, Gallatin, Helena, Jefferson, Kootenai, Lewis & Clark, Madison, and Missoula National Parks, Montana; Shoshone National Park, Wyoming; Clearwater, Kaniksu, Pend Orielle, Selway, and St. Joe National Forests, Idaho; and the Columbia, Olympic, Ranier, Snoqualmie, and Wenatchee National Forests, Washington. The maps listed are not present here and may or may not relate to the Act of Congress of June 25, 1929.
Printed maps of areas containing Northern Pacific and Northwestern Improvement Company lands in the states of North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington, and Oregon. Each map is gridded into sections, and the sections are colored-in to indicate land owned by Northern Pacific or Northwestern Improvement Company, and to indicate mineral reservations.
Typed copies of brief addresses by Shaw, University of Minnesota professor, on farming and related subjects along the Northern Pacific line, apparently connected with the promotion of immigration and settlement.
Miscellaneous Land Department accounts kept by the Northern Pacific Railway's receiver during the period of its bankruptcy and reorganization.
Annual and monthly (usually) summaries of Land Department accounts compiled for the comptroller's information. The volumes break down, by divisions, land sales, town lot sales, timber and miscellaneous sales, each collections, expenses (categorized), taxes, and deferred accounts. The series also includes an incomplete run of NWI reports.
The volumes record the disposition of all the contracts that the Northern Pacific sold to the National City Bank of New York in 1898. Each volume records: contract number, land purchaser, legal description of tract, amount of principal and interest outstanding, record of payments, interest percentage and duration of contract, and miscellaneous remarks.
General journals and ledgers documenting the handling of the Northern Pacific land contracts sold to the National City Bank of New York in 1898.
The ledgers record data on individual T&M contracts, especially receipt of payments on the leases.
Northern Pacific and Northwestern Improvement schedules of coal lands, Washington Division, used for income tax purposes. The information on mineral properties includes description, title, lease, gross tonnage, en bloc and base unit value, operations during the year, depletion deduction, taxable income, and ledger account. The information for some years was not included. Index to property/schedule in volume 1 and 6.