TJE - Father First. Human always.

BREAKING: WASHINGTON (AP) — Virginia voters approve new US House districts that could aid Democrats in midterm elections.

Yessir... good eye! I meant to expand and button this thought up. Before the Great Northern Railway, led by James J. Hill, established the northernmost transcontinental railroad in the U.S. There was the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad (SP&P) -- founded by William Crooks as the Minnesota and Pacific Railroad, which existed from 1857 to 1879. From St. Paul, the main line extended to Breckenridge at the state's border with the Dakota Territory. As the state of Minnesotas first ACTIVE railroad (though not the first). Construction began in 1856, and in 1857 the state backed a $5 million (equiv to $169 million in 2024) bond issue to support the new rail system. Speculators manipulated the new railroad's profits, overcharged it for supplies, and sold off some of its assets -- leading to a bankruptcy in 1860, and the NEW state legislature purchased all of its assets for a mere $1,000 (equivalent to $35k in 2024). In 1862, the state reorganized the bankrupt railroad and updated the name to SP&P. That same year, 10 miles of track between St. Paul and St. Anthony finally opened. An Egbert E. Litchfield (of the Litchfield Brothers - who'd been running ROBBER BARON / URBAN MACHINE POLITICS game where ever the money was during the mid 1840's - 1850's) bought up most of the road's stock, while the branch line reached Sauk Rapids by 1867 (Financed mostly by bonds sold in the Netherlands) - little was accomplished on the main line (only 210 miles of track laid as of 1865. Between 1867 and 1871, almost nothing more was accomplished - nonetheless, it went knee deep in the paint promoting wolf tickets to invest into construction projects - "new towns every 8 miles - along it's length - coming soon - leading railroad helping to 'COLONIZE' Minnesota. In December of 1870, the Northern Pacific Railway purchased the SP&P -- BUT... the Northern Pacific went bankrupt in the "PANIC OF 1873" AND another Litchfield (E. Darwin) bought the SP&P back from the bigger road - while Dutch investors held most of the road's stock. If it wasn't for James J. Hill - who'd been running steamboats on the Red River - who saw the potential of the railroad and successfully convinced John S. Kennedy, Norman Kittson, Donald Smith and George Stephen to invest 5.5m (equiv to $180 million in 2024) in purchasing the railroad - getting "The Dutch" to transfer their bonds to the investors group - giving them control of the railroad. To finance construction, they issued bonds allowing the bearer to receive up to $10,000 per mile of track completed (equivalent to $326k in 2024), only if the line was finished. In February 1879, the group bought out The Litchfields who had their hands full dealing three card monte navigating the Circumstances Surrounding the Closing of the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel and the early LIRR in Brooklyn, NY (THE GREAT BROOKLYN RAILROAD & LAND DEVELOPMENT FRAUD OF 1859 - 1861... - great play by play to follow on this topic interweaving these LITCHFIELDS Meanwhile the hands-on, detail-obsesed, straight shooting Scotch-Irish Canadian facilitated the successful deal making x execution that led to the completion of the GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY (1,700 miles of track - without public money and just a few land grants - one of the few transcontinental railroads not to go bankrupt. Hill wanted people to settle along his rail lines, so he sold homesteads to immigrants while transporting them to their new homes on his rail lines. When he was looking for the best path for a track to take, he went on horseback and scouted it personally. Under his management, StPM&M prospered. In 1880, its net worth was $728,000 (equal to $23,720,248 today); in 1885 it was $25,000,000, equal to $874,907,407 today. "GIVE ME SNUFF, WHISKEY, AND SWEDES, AND I WILL BUILD A RAILROAD TO HELL. James Jerome Hill