Talk About Complicated!

Last week I wrote about the Chicago, Burlington * Quincy (Burlington Railroad) and how it became part of the Burlington Northern Railway - what is known today as the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad (BNSF). Today's blog is about one of the sister companies that make up the BNSF.
This passenger train, on the Northern Pacific Railway line, sits peacefully at Seattle's King Street Station waiting to depart to Portland Oregon. The picture does not reflect the turmoil and the complications that the railway had to endure in order for this passenger consist to exist at all.

It started serenely enough in May of 1804 when, commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson, Lewis & Clark set off to explore the newly acquired land included in the Louisiana Purchase. Their explorations included territory on which the future Northern Pacific Railway would also travel.
The railroad was approved by congress on July 2, 1884 to build a railroad that would connect Lake Superior with a port on the pacific coast. The original charter included a land grant of 40 million acres.
Unfortunately, the money did not come as quickly as hoped. It was not until 1870 that Jay Cooke brought $100 million dollars to the table. It was enough for the railroad to get started; but, in 1873 his bank went under and the building of the railroad slowed to a standstill. Then, in 1875, after a corporate reorganization, another $40 million in bonds was sold. In 1881 Henry Villard, the owner of a competing railroad purchased the line. He used it to compliment his own line. Finally, after overcoming many more financial and corporate challenges, the final spike was driven to complete the Northern Pacific Railway on September 8, 1883. James Hill, owner of the Great Northern Railway, purchased the company. It was added to his portfolio that also included the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad.
Despite all of the challenges it had to overcome to connect the two sides of the country, the Northern Pacific Railroad survived. It also contributed to the overall health and well-being of the railroad industry in the United States: initiated two designs of very powerful locomotives (rather than use many smaller locomotives linked together). The terrain that the railroad had to traverse energized the engineering creativity that developed in 1926 the 4-8-4 (Whyte classification) "Northern" locomotive. Then, in 1928 they came up with the 2-8-8-4 "Yellowstone" Locomotive.
Other technical wonders of the railroad include the various tunnels and bridges that were needed to complete the line. An 1,100 meter (3,610 feet) tunnel was completed through the Cascade mountains and the 1,175 meter (3,850 feet) tunnel over Mullan Pass are two examples of tunnels they had to bore. Two examples of bridges include the 860 meter (860 feet) long by 70 meter (226 feet) high Marent's Gulch Trestle and the 550 meter (1,800 feet) long by 35 meter (112 feet) high O'Keefe's Canyon Trestle.
By the early 1950s, the Northern Pacific Railroad system traversed over 2,100 kilometers (6,888 miles). The two-tone green color scheme for the North Coast Limited was designed by the famed industrial designer, Raymond Lowey.