Northern Pacific Railroad Co. - Only 5 Found - Rare Fractional Scrip - 1876 dated Preferred Stock Certificate

Fractional Scrip. Rare! Only 5 found! The Northern Pacific Railway, designated by the reporting mark NP, was a significant transcontinental railroad that traversed the northern region of the western United States, extending from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It received approval and was chartered in 1864 by the 38th Congress of the United States in Washington, D.C., during the concluding years of the American Civil War (1861-1865). The railway was granted nearly 40 million acres (62,000 square miles; 160,000 square kilometers) of adjacent land, which it leveraged to secure additional funding in Europe, particularly in the new German Empire, the homeland of President Henry Villard. Construction commenced in 1870, culminating in the opening of the main line that connected the Great Lakes to the Pacific Ocean, just south of the U.S.-Canada border.

On September 8, 1883, Ulysses S. Grant drove in the final "golden spike," marking the completion of the line in what was then the western Montana Territory (later the State of Montana in 1889). The railroad encompassed approximately 6,800 miles (10,900 kilometers) of track, serving a vast area that included extensive routes in the western federal territories and the subsequent states of Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin. Additionally, the Northern Pacific Railway operated an international branch extending north to Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba in the newly established Canada. Its primary operations included the transportation of wheat and other agricultural products, cattle, timber, and minerals, as well as the importation of consumer goods, passenger transport, and land sales.