James Jerome Hill, primary stockholder and president of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway (StPM&M), established the Montana Central Railway on January 25, 1886. Few railroads served Montana at that time. But
Butte, Montana, was a booming
mining town that needed to get its metals to market; gold and silver had been discovered near
Helena, Montana; and
coal companies in
Canada were eager to get their fuel to Montana's
smelters. Hill organized the Great Falls Water Power & Townsite Company in 1887, with the goal of developing the town of Great Falls; providing it with power, sewage, and water; and attracting commerce and industry to the city. To attract industry to the new city, he offered low rates on the Montana Central Railway. Surveyors and engineers began grading a route between Helena and Great Falls in the winter of 1885-1886 (even before the company had been incorporated), and by the end of 1886 had surveyed a route from Helena to Butte. Construction on the Great Northern's line westward began in late 1886, and on October 16, 1887, the link between
Devils Lake, North Dakota;
Fort Assinniboine (near the present-day city of
Havre); and Great Falls was complete. Service to Helena began in November 1887, and Butte followed on November 10, 1888. The Montana Central's engines and cars were marked either with "Great Northern" or "Montana Central," with the capital letters "MC" over the number of the car or engine. On September 18, 1889, Hill changed the name of the
Minneapolis and St. Cloud Railway (a railroad which existed primarily on paper, but which held very extensive land grants throughout the Pacific Northwest) to the Great Northern Railway. On February 1, 1890, he transferred ownership of the StPM&M, Montana Central, and other rail systems he owned to the Great Northern. ==Footnotes==