The history of the bonanza
farm started with the arrival of the railroad, as with the history of America’s
westward expansion. A group of entrepreneurs dreamed of building a railroad
across the northern territory to the Pacific Ocean during the mid-1860s. The
newly-formed Northern Pacific Railroad began construction with financing from
Jay Cooke and his banking institution, as well as the millions of acres in
government land grants. Entering present-day North Dakota., the NP has
traversed the Red River by 1872.
<span>The NP and the entire
country was in a financial panic since Jay Cooke went bankrupt a year later. The
NP allowed stockholders, who were holding deflated stock, to purchase huge
tracts of land at a cost comparable with land sold by the government, in order
to raise money that was needed to continue the railroads construction.</span>
Even still, the revolution marked the end of a dynasty that had lasted 300 years and concluded with the seizure of power by a small revolutionary group. The tsar was replaced with a Council of People's Commissars and private ownership was abolished.
