Manuscripts Collection
The St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway Company, the major predecessor line of the Great Northern Railway Company, was organized in 1879 for the purpose of assuming the properties and franchises of the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company and its First Division. In 1890, all properties and operations of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba were leased to the Great Northern, which was formed that year to permit the expansion of the Manitoba line. The Great Northern purchased all of the Manitoba line's corporate property in 1907.
The Northern Pacific Railway Company obtained a congressional charter in 1864. However, construction of the line did not begin until 1870, after Congress had authorized the company to mortgage its land grant and after Jay Cooke and Company had become the company's financial agent. The company was reorganized in 1875, following a period of severe financial difficulties precipitated by the panic of 1873, and reorganized again in 1896, following three years of receivership.
The Great Northern and Northern Pacific railway companies existed as separate corporate entities until 1970, when they merged with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway Company to become Burlington Northern, Inc.
The annual reports to the stockholders include the names of the companies' directors and officers, and narrative and statistical summaries of the companies' operations and finances. Reels 1-2 and 5-9 include the individual reports immediately followed by any supplemental materials (for example: statistical data, additional reports, accompanying maps).
Reel 5 includes the annual reports to the Secretary of the Interior, Lands and Railroads Division (reproduced from originals in the National Archives). These reports record the names and residences of the Northern Pacific stockholders, directors and other officers; the amount of stock subscribed and the amount actually paid in; a description of the routes surveyed, those selected for construction, and the cost of surveys; the amount of revenue received from passengers and freight; and statements of expenses and indebtedness, for the years 1870-1877.
The remainder of reel 5 documents the annual reports to the stockholders for the Northern Pacific Railway Company for 1876 to 1893. There is no report for 1894, and the reports of the comptroller and/or the receivers constitute its annual reports for 1895 and 1896. Reels 6-11 cover the Northern Pacific annual reports from 1897-1968.
Reel 12 contains a duplicate set of the maps that accompanied the annual reports to the stockholders of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba, the Great Northern, and the Northern Pacific railway companies. The maps show the railways' main and subsidiary lines.
These documents are organized into the following sections:
Saint Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1979.
Available for sale or interlibrary loan from the Minnesota Historical Society.
Closed originals (4.25 linear feet, 75 maps) form parts of the records of the St.
Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway Company, the Secretary's records of the
Originals of Annual Reports to the Secretary of the Interior, 1870-1877, (Railroad Packages, 1849-1901; Records of the Office of the Secretary of the Interior, Record Group 48) are held at the National Archives at College Park, MD.
Accession number: 12,636
Catalog ID number: 1715486
Work on the Great Northern and Northern Pacific railway company records was supported with funds by the Northwest Area Foundation, the Grotto Foundation, and the Jerome Foundation.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the
Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics,
persons or places should