This series of correspondence files dates mostly from the 1890s-1920s period. It is largely the subject files of Charles W. Bunn, Northern Pacific chief counsel. Because the chief counsel was the principal corporate legal advisor, the files treat many important topics, including the railroad's receivership and reorganization (1890s), contractual relationships between Northern Pacific and its branch lines and subsidiary properties, and the federal control of the Northern Pacific and other western railroads (1918-1924), especially the Northern Pacific's understanding and continuing interpretation of that contractual relationship.

The collection consists of files of Northern Pacific Land Attorney Grafton Mason, and is primarily concerned with a 1925-1929 congressional investigation into Northern Pacific's administration of its land grant. It also documents subsequent 1930-1940 litigation (which ultimately came before the U.S. Supreme Court) concerning Northern Pacific's efforts to receive compensation for indemnity lands expropriated by the federal government for inclusion in national forests and reserves. The files include judicial opinions, legal briefs, and accompanying exhibits; reports prepared by Special Master Frank H. Graves, and by the Northern Pacific; and transcripts of congressional testimony and court proceedings.

The bulk of the collection contains information on such matters as the value of timber and minerals lost through expropriation; the 1864 and 1870 land grants to the Northern Pacific Railroad Company; land grants to other railroad companies; surveys; land losses and land grant adjustments; taxes; related lawsuits; the Blackfoot, Mille Lacs, Cheyenne, Yakima, and Flathead Indian reservations and lands; Yellowstone National Park; and the Snoqualmie, Olympic, and Columbia national forests.

Prominent correspondents, in addition to Mason, include Northern Pacific Counsel James B. Kerr; General Adjustment Agent L. L. Schwarm; General Counsel D. F. Lyons and L. B. daPonte; General Attorney D. R. Frost; and Land Commissioner J. M. Hughes. Included also is correspondence with D. F. McGowan, special assistant to the attorney general, and U.S. Assistant Attorney General Carl McFarland. There are also typewritten transcripts of documents from the files of the Northern Pacific and its subsidiary and related companies, including minutes of directors' meetings, directors' resolutions, and executive correspondence.

Correspondence, leases, exhibits, statements, testimonies, printed materials, and miscellaneous relating to ICC Finance Dockets No. 6409 and No. 6410, regarding unification of the Northern Pacific, Great Northern and Spokane, Portland & Seattle by forming a "Great Northern Pacific Railway Company" and Finance Docket No. 12, 964 regarding the "matter of Consolidation of the Railway Properties of the United States into a Limited Number of Systems."

This is the principal series of Northern Pacific records documenting the long process that eventually led to the formation of Burlington Northern Inc., effective March 1, 1970. These files document the ICC cases begun in 1961 to allow the merger of four railway systems: Northern Pacific; Great Northern; Chicago, Burlington and Quincy; and Spokane, Portland and Seattle.

This series consists of the official printed records of court cases in which the Northern Pacific was involved as plaintiff, defendant, or appellant, or in which it was otherwise closely related to the litigation. Each report typically includes the plaintiff's complaint and the defendant's answer, the transcript of record, closing arguments, the judgment or opinion rendered by the court, briefs of the litigants, and supporting exhibits or appendices.

The volumes are the law department's hardbound copies of the printed court records documenting the several U.S. circuit and supreme court cases known collectively as the Minnesota Rate Cases. They include complainants' and defendants' legal instruments, briefs, testimony, transcripts of record, exhibits, and decrees and findings of the courts.

The printed and typed court records document the original case and the appeals stemming from an argument over the transportation rate paid by the U.S. government in shipping construction supplies over the Northern Pacific and connecting lines (Great Northern and the Milwaukee Road) to the construction site of the Grand Coulee "High Dam" in Washington.

The Northern Pacific argued in this test case on behalf of all the affected roads, that the U.S. was currently paying for transportation at a rate that had been agreed upon (in 1934) for the construction of the Grand Coulee "Low Dam" completed in 1938, rather than at the "Land Grant Rate" which the carriers had expected for the larger subsequent construction job. The company was suing for the higher transportation rate.

The contents of the transcontinental rate case include the legal files of Northern Pacific and the actual legal transcripts with exhibits. The legal files contain copies of briefs, testimony, reports, and correspondence among the parties. This material demonstrates a working relationship between Northern Pacific and Great Northern in creating a common defense before the ICC hearing. Also, the legal files contain a record of the evolution of the case.

The legal files include the transcripts of the cases before the ICC. The actual exhibits presented in each case are maintained in separate oversize boxes. It appears that the transcripts and exhibits are complete, with the exception of three volumes from the 1925 Chicago hearing. Because of its similarity to the transcontinental case, the transcripts and exhibits from the Trans-Missouri case are maintained within the records. In total, the contents provide a nearly complete official record of the case, along with a detailed record of Northern Pacific's strategy and tactics.

In spite of the longevity and importance of Grain Rate Case, the records in the Northern Pacific legal files are fragmented and incomplete. Only Box 1 contains materials directly related to Northern Pacific's role in the case. It includes a partial set of court exhibits and general correspondence from 1927 through 1932 (thus, Northern Pacific's role in the later Grain Modification of 1938 is unclear). The records are most complete in recording the Letters of Transmittal of Brief, Petition, and related materials. The actual briefs and petitions make up the vast majority of the collection-four out of the five boxes. The petitions, briefs, and other items provide an understanding into the actual legal development of the case, but are of lesser value in determining the decision-making process. A wide variety of parties are represented in the briefs, petitions, and motions. Those most frequently represented are railways, boards of trade, millers, shippers, producers, and state regulatory commissions.

These two cases contain a wealth of information on the national railway industry during the early 1940s. Although Northern Pacific was vitally interested in the proceedings, the records also include extensive financial information on all Class I railroads. This information is most readily accessible from the transcripts of the proceedings and from the legal exhibits. Besides these national-level materials, the collection also contains the working papers of the Northern Pacific legal staff. All Northern Pacific working papers are arranged according to a system devised by the railway (Boxes 5-7). Furthermore, the collection consists of correspondence between Northern Pacific and the Western Carriers Conference and other Class I railways. In total, the contents of the collection are useful for both a national and a single-company perspective on railroad labor relations during World War II.

The war material reparation cases are divided into three broad areas. First, the legal files of Northern Pacific consist of Boxes 1 and 2. These legal files contain correspondence, briefs, lists of exhibits, and a review of arguments. Although much of the collection deals with Northern Pacific's own involvement in the "Ammunition and Explosive Case," they also provide important background information on all cases. The second portion of the collection (Boxes 3-5) is composed of statements and testimony of various witnesses involved in the cases. Often times, a witness appeared at more than one case; therefore, the docket numbers on the folder indicate the cases to which the witness was called. The final portion of the records (Boxes 6-13) arranges the exhibits according to docket number. These exhibits, except in Box 6, are oversized documents that accompanied witnesses' testimony. They are largely statistical in nature involving tariff rates, rules, and regulations of the commission.

The docket files document litigations in which the Western Law Department, headquartered in Seattle, was involved during the 1899-1925 period. The litigations fall into three basic categories: (1) Actions brought by Northern Pacific and its subsidiaries to recover freight charges and to establish rights-of-way. (2) Actions brought against the Northern Pacific by injured employees, passengers, and others. (3) Actions brought against the Northern Pacific by dismissed employees, disgruntled shippers, and livestock owners to recover financial damages stemming from the actions of the Northern Pacific and its subsidiaries.

Volumes in this series include dockets with indexes, tax cases, Seattle dockets, and "Garnishment Docket No. 15".

Dockets of cases beginning in January 1895 through January 1932, filed in the superior, circuit, and justice courts held in Tacoma, Washington.

Volumes are labeled "Seattle" but dates and volume numbers appear to continue the Tacoma Dockets.

The case files document the litigations in which the Western Law Department, headquartered in Seattle, was involved during the 1882-1911 period. During 1911, the department began renumbering its case files, beginning again with the number 1. Therefore, post-1911 cases are contained in a separate series of files numbered 1-4528 (1911-1970). The researcher should turn to the finding aid for the later series for a somewhat more complete description of the contents of the case files.

The case files document the litigations in which the Western Law Department, headquartered in Seattle, was involved during the 1910s-1960s. The litigations fall into three basic categories: (1) Actions brought by Northern Pacific and its subsidiaries to recover freight charges and to establish rights-of-way; (2) Actions brought against Northern Pacific by injured employees, passengers, and others; (3) Actions brought against Northern Pacific by dismissed employees, disgruntled shippers, and livestock owners to recover financial damages stemming from the actions of Northern Pacific and its subsidiaries.

Case files to these indexes have not been located.

Alphabetical index of general correspondence files.

This series of legal documents illustrates the spectrum of contracts into which the Lines West divisions of the Northern Pacific entered. The contracts were negotiated with a wide variety of companies and individuals and include land contracts; lumber contracts; agreements with other roads; contracts for oil, coal, ice, meat, and produce; telephone and telegraph services; shipbuilding and other construction contracts.

The files consist of printed journals, reports, bills, and resolutions from the Washington state senate and house of representatives, as well as from other western states and miscellaneous federal bodies. The records document legislation that was of interest to the Northern Pacific during the period.

Anti-trust case charging Northern Pacific and Northwest Improvement Company with violating the act by imposing restrictive "traffic clauses" on persons and firms to whom they sold land received as government grants between 1864-1870. These clauses required land owners to use Northern Pacific lines to ship all products from the properties, as well as manufactured products shipped to owners or lessees. These clauses operate to exclude competing rail, truck and steamship lines.

Correspondence, testimonies, exhibits, maps, and other materials relating to the construction of the Moses Lake line (Finance Docket 16119), 1946-1949 and the Moses Lake extension (Finance Docket 18544), 1954-1955.