Chemin de fer

1921 · 75088 — St. Paul: Northern Pacific Railway Company 1921-1930. First edition. Ten consecutive issues. Folio 12 x 9 inches. Variously paginated. Many charts but no illustrations. All but the Twenty-seventh and the Thirty-fourth Reports have large folding maps bound in at rear of report. Original printed wrappers and all bound together in a stabbed-and-sewn black cloth binder. Very good.The Northern Pacific Railway reporting mark NP was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly forty million acres 62000 sq mi; 160000 km2 of land grants which it used to raise money in Europe for construction. Construction began in 1870 and the main line opened all the way from the Great Lakes to the Pacific when former President Ulysses S. Grant drove in the final "golden spike" in western Montana on September 8 1883. The railroad had about 6800 miles 10900 km of track and served a large area including extensive trackage in the states of Idaho Minnesota Montana North Dakota Oregon Washington and Wisconsin. In addition the NP had an international branch to Winnipeg Manitoba Canada. The main activities were shipping wheat and other farm products cattle timber and minerals; bringing in consumer goods transporting passengers; and selling land. The Northern Pacific merged with other lines in 1970 to form the Burlington Northern Railroad which in turn merged with the Santa Fe to become the BNSF Railway in 1996. The main interest here is in the very detailed maps. Northern Pacific Railway Company hardcover