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33-661: The trail occupies an abandoned Burlington Northern Railroad corridor and intersects with the Gateway State Trail in Maplewood and continues to just east of Lake Phalen in Saint Paul. South of the lake, it continues along Phalen Boulevard and through Swede Hollow to its terminus near Seventh Street. Another spur off of Phalen Boulevard continues west, going over a long bridge that crosses very active railroad tracks, and terminates at Interstate 35E . The trail

66-861: A headquarters building, the Railroad and Bank Building in Saint Paul, Minnesota . In 1905, the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway was founded. Like the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, this new railroad was co-owned by the Great Northern and Northern Pacific and allowed both to access Portland via the Columbia River Gorge. Leaders attempted to merge another two times, in 1927 and 1955, but were unsuccessful. The four railroads were finally cleared to merge on March 2, 1970, after

99-710: A legal challenge that once again went to the Supreme Court. By that time, the GN's president was John M. Budd , the NP's president was Louis W. Menk , and the CB&;Q's president was William John Quinn . Under the leadership of Budd and Menk, the newly established holding company , Burlington Northern, Inc. purchased the four railroads and merged them into the Burlington Northern Railroad. Budd became

132-405: A monopolistic combination. The Northern Securities Company was formed by Hill to control the stock of his major railroad properties. Some of Harriman's directors were appointed as representatives for his holdings of Northern Pacific shares. A public outcry over the new company made its way throughout the country, and both state and federal officials prepared to file litigation. On February 19, 1902,

165-623: A new company, Burlington Resources in 1988. The railroad once again relocated its headquarters in 1988, moving from Seattle to Fort Worth, Texas . On September 22, 1995, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway merged with the Burlington Northern to create the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. However, the merger was not official until December 31, 1996, when a common dispatching system

198-404: Is approximately seven miles (11 km) long from its northern end just north of Interstate 694 to the southern terminus near Seventh Street and Payne Avenue. The extension along Phalen Boulevard is 1.3 miles (2.1 km). Most of the trail was built in the late 1990s. The section along Phalen Boulevard was paved in late 2005. The trail leads through an abandoned rail corridor and is mostly off

231-707: Is still owned and operated to this day by the BNSF Railway under a purchase-of-service agreement with Metra . In May 1980 when Mount St. Helens erupted , the BNR owned the land around the summit of Mount St. Helens in Washington state. In the 19th century, the United States government distributed land to railroads as a way to open up the American West and the 9,677-foot (2,950 m) peak was granted to

264-534: The North Coast Limited , Mainstreeter , Empire Builder , Western Star , Denver Zephyr , " Gopher ", and " International ", until Amtrak took over intercity passenger service in May 1971, thus becoming the last "new" Class I railroad to operate its own passenger trains. The BN also operated a commuter line inherited from the CB&Q from Aurora, Illinois to Chicago Union Station . This line

297-520: The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway on December 31, 1996, to form the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway (later renamed BNSF Railway ), which was owned by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation . That corporation was purchased in 2009 by Berkshire Hathaway , which is controlled by investor Warren Buffett . The Burlington Northern Railroad was the product of the merger of four major railroads:

330-755: The Great Northern Railway (GN), the Northern Pacific Railway (NP), the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway (SP&S) and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q). The four railroads shared a very intertwined history, due to the efforts of James J. Hill , the railroad tycoon who had founded the Great Northern Railway. Hill purchased an interest in the Northern Pacific in 1896 as

363-729: The Tri-Cities , then northwest to Yakima, Washington , and crossed under the Cascade Range at Stampede Tunnel, descending to the Green River Valley at Auburn, Washington where it connected with existing NP lines from British Columbia to Portland, Oregon . The Spokane, Portland and Seattle ran southwest to the Tri-Cities, then followed the north bank of the Columbia River to Vancouver, Washington . With

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396-645: The United States Department of Justice announced plans to file a suit against the company. When approached by J. P. Morgan to settle the issue in private, President Roosevelt refused; he later remarked, "Mr. Morgan could not help regarding me as a big rival operator who either intended to ruin all his interests or could be induced to come to an agreement to ruin none." Although Roosevelt still believed that trusts were not always bad for society, he could not bear to feel treated as just another rival operator. The suit continued. The Justice Department won

429-492: The "Northern Pacific Corner". Speculators had sold shares that they did not own, and were now desperate to purchase shares at any price-some shares reportedly sold at $ 1,000. Hill, working with J. P. Morgan, took majority control of the Northern Pacific despite Harriman's best efforts. This speculation resonated throughout the stock market and the country as a whole. The two men, their backers, and associates agreed to settle their differences and eliminate ruinous competition through

462-553: The Great Northern and the Northern Pacific assumed control of nearly 100 percent of the Burlington's outstanding stock. Knowing that the Northern Pacific controlled almost 49.3 percent of the Burlington's stock, Harriman launched a stock raid against the Northern Pacific. Control of the Northern Pacific would allow him to appoint directors to the Burlington, which could then be forced to treat Harriman's Union Pacific favorably in business matters. Harriman's stock raid in May 1901 led to

495-635: The Northern Pacific. It was inherited in the 1970 merger by Burlington Northern. Following the eruption the land including the volcano was subsequently transferred in a land swap between the railroad and the United States Forest Service so the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument could be established. On November 21, 1980, the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway was acquired, giving the railroad trackage as far south as Florida . In

528-503: The Union Pacific and Southern Pacific railroads. The Northern Securities case was one of the earliest antitrust cases and provided important legal precedents for many later cases, including that against Major League Baseball . In 1955, the Northern Pacific and Great Northern renewed talks of merging. The Supreme Court approved the merger, and as a result, the Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Chicago Burlington & Quincy, and

561-544: The acquisition of the St. Louis – San Francisco Railway the route was extended into the South Central and Southeastern United States . Transport Statistics shows BN operated 23609 miles of line and 34691 miles of track at the end of 1970; it shows 4547 SLSF miles of line not including QA&P and AT&N. At the end of 1981 BN showed 27,374 miles (44,054 km) of line and 40,041 miles (64,440 km) of track. At

594-517: The company's first board chairman and CEO while Menk became the company's first president and COO. To further expand the Burlington Northern, a single track was constructed in 1972 into the Powder River Basin to serve various coal mines. The expansion was a source of traffic unprecedented in United States railroad history. In 1971, the first full year for the new railroad, trains carried 64,116 million revenue ton-miles of freight, by 1979

627-586: The early 1980s two independently operated railroads, owned by Burlington Northern Inc. were absorbed into the Burlington Northern Railroad; the Colorado and Southern Railway was absorbed in 1981, followed by the Fort Worth and Denver Railway in 1982. The railroad relocated its headquarters from Saint Paul to Seattle, Washington in 1981, as well as its parent company and sister companies. All of Burlington Northern, Inc's non-rail operations were spun off to

660-707: The establishment of the Northern Securities Company , a trust that controlled all three, with Hill serving as president. The company was sued in 1902 under the Sherman Antitrust Act and in 1904 the Justice Department won in the Supreme Court ruling Northern Securities Co. v. United States . Although the ruling forced the three companies to be operated independently, they were still closely linked, even sharing

693-401: The railway endured a period of financial turmoil. Hill attempted to merge the two railways but was rebuffed by the leaders of the Northern Pacific. In 1901, the two railways teamed up to purchase nearly all shares of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, giving both a needed connection to Chicago, the nation's railroad hub. That same year, came the next attempt to merge the railroads with

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726-733: The road. In some places it goes through residential neighborhoods. There are some views of Lake Phalen through the trees. The section in Swede Hollow is particularly scenic where it runs through a ravine except for the presence of out-of-scale billboards. The south end of the trail features the Seventh Street Improvement Arches . This is a historic bridge built to carry the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad underneath Seventh Street. North beyond this are abandoned factories that belong to 3M . The Phalen Boulevard extension goes through more industrial and office areas, but at

759-406: The routes continued northwest through Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota to Grand Forks, North Dakota . From Grand Forks the routes ran west through North Dakota , Montana , and Idaho to Spokane, Washington . The former GN routed through North Dakota/Northern Montana, crossing the continental divide at Marias Pass , while the former NP line routed through the southern part of Montana (which

792-549: The suit and the company was dissolved according to the 1904 Supreme Court ruling in Northern Securities Co. v. United States case, decided five to four. The companies were convicted under the Sherman Antitrust Act . In the following seven years, 44 other federal antitrust cases turned out rulings similar to the Northern Securities case. Included in these break-ups were Harriman's own holdings of

825-437: The time of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens the summit of the volcano that was blasted away was owned by Burlington Northern. Following the eruption, Burlington Northern agreed to a land swap with the U.S. government and exchanged its square mile (2.59 square kilometer ) of land on the mountain for national forest land elsewhere to allow for the creation of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument to preserve

858-597: The top of the bridge over Westminster Junction, there is a historical exhibit with descriptions of how the railroads developed along with the city. The trail is named for U.S. Representative Bruce Vento . This former Burlington Northern Railroad corridor was formerly used by the Northern Pacific Railway and was originally built as the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad . 44°58′44″N 93°2′48″W  /  44.97889°N 93.04667°W  / 44.97889; -93.04667 Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad ( reporting mark BN )

891-536: The total was 135,004 million. Most of the increase was attributed to Powder River coal from Wyoming. The Burlington Northern, along with handling freight trains, briefly operated inter-city passenger trains. The BN had started operations just a matter of weeks before the end of service of the original California Zephyr , which had been operated by the CB&Q, in conjunction with the Denver and Rio Grande Western and Western Pacific railroads, and continued to operate

924-432: The volcano and allow for its aftermath to be scientifically studied. Northern Securities Company The Northern Securities Company was a short-lived American railroad trust formed in 1901 by E. H. Harriman , James J. Hill , J. P. Morgan and their associates. The company controlled the Northern Pacific Railway ; Great Northern Railway ; Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad ; and other associated lines. It

957-462: Was a United States–based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1995. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroading with the chartering in 1848 of the Chicago and Aurora Railroad , a direct ancestor line of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad , which lends Burlington to the names of various merger-produced successors. Burlington Northern acquired

990-410: Was capitalized at $ 400 million, and Hill served as president. The company was sued in 1902 under the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 by the Justice Department under President Theodore Roosevelt , one of the first antitrust cases filed against corporate interests instead of labor. The government won its case, and the company was dissolved, so that the three railroads again operated independently. Hill

1023-425: Was established, Santa Fe's non-union dispatchers were unionized and the implementation of Santa Fe's train identification codes systemwide. On January 24, 2005, the railroad shortened its name to BNSF Railway. The Burlington Northern traversed the most northerly routes of any railroad in the western United States. These routes started at Chicago, Illinois and ran west-northwest to La Crosse, Wisconsin . From here

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1056-546: Was spun off to Montana Rail Link in 1987), crossing the continental divide at Mullan and Homestake Passes . At Spokane the routes split into three. The former Great Northern route ran west to Wenatchee, Washington , crossed under the Cascade Range at New Cascade Tunnel on Stevens Pass , and descended to the Puget Sound region through Everett, Washington . The former Northern Pacific turned southwest towards

1089-533: Was the president of the Great Northern Railway and Harriman controlled the Union Pacific Railroad , two of the largest railroads in the U.S. Both sought control of the Burlington to connect their roads to the vital railroad hub of Chicago, Illinois . Hill, who also had a minority interest in the Northern Pacific Railway , outbid Harriman for the Burlington, by agreeing to Burlington President Charles Elliott Perkins's $ 200-a-share price. Together,

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