When the Northern Pacific was chartered in 1864, it received from Congress a grant of approximately 50 million acres of undeveloped land along its route through the northern tier of western states. The land department was organized in 1871 to manage this vast resource, which consisted of arable and semi-arid open lands, as well as extensive forested and mountainous tracts. In addition to forest products, the lands contained substantial mineral resources including coal, oil, gas, and iron and copper ores. Over the succeeding hundred years the department worked to dispose of lands to settlers and commercial developers, as a means to building up the rail system’s traffic base, and to manage large unsold tracts in order to exploit the natural resources they contained. Much of this work was carried on through its natural resources subsidiary, the Northwestern Improvement Company [NWI]. Throughout its history, the company engaged in an almost continual legal dialogue with the federal government regarding the nature and value of its enormous land grant.
From the guide to the Land Dept. records., Northern Pacific Railway Company records, ., 1869-1973., (Minnesota Historical Society)
