The Great Northern RailwayThe definitive history of one of the nations great transcontinental railroads In the sprawling Northwest, from the upper Mississippi River valley to Puget Sound, no railroad shaped the landscape and society like the Great Northern Railway Company. This is the complete history of that enterprise, from 1856, when the first charter was granted, through the era of James J. Hillknown as the Empire Builderto its maturation and eventual merger in 1970, when