Volumes 1-16 are reports to the Interstate Commerce Commission [ICC], Bureau of Valuation, 1917-1954. Volume 17 is a report of the Regional Coordinating Committee, Western Railway Group, Northern Division, 1934.

At the time of the federally mandated 1917 valuation of United States railroads, the Interstate Commerce Commission [ICC] directed that all subsequent additions to and retirements from each railroad's 1917 inventory be made as an annual report titled Bureau of Valuation [BV] Form 588. The first such report sent to the ICC was the ten-year BV Form 588 and included all of the 1917-1927 period. The second report covered the 1928-1930 period, and the third covered 1931 and 1932. Since then an annual report has been made to the ICC.

Each state in which the Northern Pacific operated was divided into valuation sections at the time of the 1917 inventory. Any subsequent work done in these sections required an authority for expenditure [AFE] executed by proper corporate officials. When the physical work was completed, Engineering Department personnel would make up a field report consisting of an itemization of the actual material used and retired from use according to standard ICC account numbers (e.g., Grading: Account No. 3, Ties: Account No. 8, etc.). This field report was submitted to the Valuation Engineering Office along with a sketch showing the location of the work, stationing, limits, town, state, and valuation section.

The Valuation Engineer's office force would take the field report, along with the necessary land report, signal report, mechanical report, communications report, and auditor's cost report, and would assemble the gathered data according to ICC account numbers. The resulting comprehensive report was called a completion report, and a copy was sent to the accounting office to record the cost data and to file. These became the office copies of the BV Form 588 Reports.

The records in this series consist entirely of office copies of the annual BV Form 588 reports of the Northern Pacific. For each year, the report consists of summary field data aggregated for the entire road. The reports include worksheets documenting mileage changes during the year.

The valuation engineer's annual reports to the Minnesota Railroad and Warehouse Commission consist of basic values of Northern Pacific property located in the state of Minnesota, along with a proportionate percentage of rolling stock value. This basic value is added to and deducted from each year, giving the commission a dollar valuation figure for Northern Pacific property in the state during each year. This figure was used in determining gross earnings tax. The annual report was discontinued after the Minnesota State Legislature abolished the gross earnings tax on railroads and returned to a property tax system. The reports contained in this series include the final typed reports as well as attendant data in worksheet form.

ICC mandated reports that include a synopsis of road construction value added during each year.

Microfilm reproduction of two sets of 7 x 9-1/2 in. cards (individual cards for each steam locomotive and each tender) which provide description data on locomotives and tenders as purchased, as well as notations summarizing subsequent modifications and major repairs, depreciation, and final disposition.

A series of several thousand 7 x 9 1/2 in. cards (an individual card for each piece of rolling stock) providing descriptive and financial data on each piece of equipment as purchased, as well as later notations summarizing subsequent modifications and major repairs, depreciation, and final disposition. The cards are arranged by equipment number, as assigned by Burlington Northern following the 1970 merger, within each of several equipment classes: Freight cars, passenger cars (only a few are included), cabooses, and work equipment. The series includes rolling stock that belonged originally to the Northern Pacific, as well as to the Great Northern and to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy systems. Equipment of the Western Fruit Express Company, the Burlington Northern Fruit Express Company, and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway is grouped separately following those of the merged parent companies.

Statistical and other reports to the Interstate Commerce Commission [ICC] Bureau of Valuation, field notes prepared by Northern Pacific employees, worksheets, photographs, and engineering diagrams and drawings. Most of the records (Volumes 15-42) are from the Land Valuation Department. Includes Index Maps which diagram the Valuation Sections in each state.

This series of linen drawings (28 x 57 in.) is the Valuation Engineer's reproduction of the original set of Northern Pacific station plats in the Chief Engineer's office. That series was updated and copied in 1917 for purposes related to the ICC-ordered valuation of railroad physical properties.

This series of linen drawings (16 x 57 in.) is the Valuation Engineer's reproduction of the original set of Northern Pacific track profiles in the Chief Engineer's office. That series was updated and copied in 1917 for purposes related to the ICC-ordered valuation of railroad physical properties. There are no tracings for Minnesota Valuation Section No. 3.

This series of oversize architectural and engineering blueprint drawings, bound into makeshift volumes (approximately 36 x 42 in.), includes all of the structures (excluding trackage or equipment) owned by the Northern Pacific and its subsidiaries at the time of the original 1917 valuation of railway property mandated by the Interstate Commerce Commission's Bureau of Valuation. Some of the drawings were updated since that time; any modifications made appear in pencil or red crayon.