HISTORY TOPICS

Building Railroads

The first land grants for the construction of railroads in Minnesota came in 1857, finally fulfilling the desire of Minnesota pioneers eager to see their adopted home on the road to progress and statehood. The construction of railroads was important to the Minnesota's development in many ways: it civilized the vast wilderness of Northern Minnesota, connected Minnesota with the thriving East Coast states and with the rest of the frontier, allowed grain grown in Minnesota to be shipped to markets across the nation, and brought thousands of immigrant laborers to the booming territory.

GET STARTED WITH SECONDARY SOURCES:

• A Condensed History of the Great Northern Railway.
  St. Paul, Minn.: Great Northern Railway Public Relations Dept., 1952 [plus updates through 1969].
  MHS call number: HE2791.G775 A6 1952.
• The Great Northern in Minnesota: The Foundations of an Empire, by John C. Luecke.
  St. Paul, Minn.: Grenadier Publications, 1997.
  MHS call number: HE2791.G77 L8 1997.
• The Great Northern Railway: A History, by Ralph W. Hidy, et al.
  Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press, 1988.
  MHS call number: Reading Room HE2791.G775 G73 1988.
• The Great Northern Railway Story.
  [St. Paul, Minn.: The Company, 1957].
  MHS call number: Folio HE2791.G775 G72.
• History of the Northern Pacific Railroad, by Eugene Virgil Smalley.
  New York: Arno Press, 1975.
  MHS call number: HE2791.N795 S6 1883a.
• The History of the Northern Pacific Railroad, by Louis Tuck Renz.
  Fairfield, Wash.: Ye Galleon Press, 1980.
  MHS call number: Reading Room HE279.N855 R45.
• A History of Transcontinental Railroads and Coal Mining on the Northern Plains to 1920, by William S. Bryans.
  Ph.D. thesis (University of Wyoming), 1987.
  MHS call number: Microfilm 1449 (1 reel).
• James J. Hill and the Opening of the Northwest, by Albro Martin.
  Reprinted in 1991 by the Minnesota Historical Society Press.
  MHS call number: Reading Room HE2754.H5 M37 1991.
• The Northern Pacific Railroad and the Selling of the West: A Nineteenth-Century Public Relations Venture, by Sig Mickelson.
  Sioux Falls, S.D.: Augustana College, Center for Western Studies, 1993.
  MHS call number: HE2791.N855 M53 1993.
• Rails to the North Star, by Richard S. Prosser.
  Minneapolis, Minn.: Dillon Press, 1966.
  MHS call number: Reading Room HE2771.M6 P962.
• They Built the West: An Epic of Rails and Cities, by Glenn Chesney Quiett.
  New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1934.
  MHS call number: F591 .Q85.

PRIMARY RESOURCES:

• Great Northern Railway Corporate Records.
  Corporate records of the St. Paul-based Great Northern, its predecessors, and its subsidiaries and affiliates, documenting their operations across the northern tier of western states for more than one hundred years, until its 1970 merger with the Northern Pacific, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle that formed the Burlington Northern.
  Note: Some portions of the records are available on microfilm; ask a librarian for more information.
  MHS call number: Extensive inventories of the records of each department and subsidiary, which provide much additional information about this collection, are available in the library. A separate index to the President's office subject files is available on microfilm. An online summary overview of the records in the collection is available.
• Northern Pacific Railway Corporate Records.
  Corporate records of the St. Paul-based Northern Pacific, its predecessors, and its subsidiaries and affiliates, documenting their operations across the northern tier of western states for more than one hundred years, until its 1970 merger with the Great Northern, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle that formed the Burlington Northern. Records include minutes, reports, correspondence and subject files, financial and accounting records, photographs, engineering drawings, land records, engineering and valuation records, advertising literature, timetables, publications, and many other materials documenting the principal staff and operating departments.
  Note: Some portions of the records are available on microfilm (M502, 25 reels); ask a librarian for more information.
  MHS call number: Extensive inventories of the records of each department and subsidiary, which provide much additional information about this collection, are available in the library. A separate index to the President's office subject files is available on microfilm. An online summary overview of the records in the collection is available.
• Soo Line Railroad Company Corporate Records.
  Records of Minneapolis-based Soo Line Railroad Company, a grain and timber products carrier serving the upper Midwest and providing U.S. connections for the Canadian Pacific Railway. The collection includes subject files from several staff and operating departments; directors', stockholders', and executive committee minutes; annual reports to government agencies; maps and structural drawings; corporate record books; stock certificates and transfer records; news clippings; timetables; videocassettes; and photographs.
  Restriction: Quotation or publication, beyond fair use provisions of the copyright law, from records less than 25 years old requires written permission. Ask a librarian for help.
  MHS call number: See the green Manuscripts Alpha Notebooks-filed under Soo Line Railroad Company-for a detailed list of boxes and locator numbers (there are 267 boxes and 1 map tube, but not all relate to this topic), or use an electronic version of the inventory.
• Visual Resources Database subjects that may be useful for this topic:
  • Great Northern Railway
  • Northern Pacific Railway
  • Transportation. Railroads
• Check the library catalog for other materials.