From the Foreword: Railroads have been important in American history since the mid-nineteenth century for national unification, the settlement of the American West, the industrial revolution, economic growth, models of complex organization for other large corporations, and the transition of America from rural, agrarian society to urban, industrial society. The railroads' transformative influence of technological change and social change has been termed "railroadization" (Schumpeter 1939, 1:325-351). Alfred D. Chandler Jr. (1965, 9-12) characterized the railroad industry as the first big business in America. The transcontinental railroads were especially significant. A transcontinental railroad may be defined as a railroad whose eastern terminal is east of the Continental Divide and whose western terminal is on the Pacific coast.... This book, Revised Corporate History of the Northern Pacific Railway As of June 30, 1917, Prepared in Accordance With Valuation Order No. 20 of the Interstate Commerce Commission, is the official history of the Northern Pacific Railway, and it documents corporate changes from the Northern Pacific's charter on July 2, 1864, to June 30, 1917. It was prepared in accordance with Valuation Order number 20 of the Interstate Commerce Commission. ... In order to complete the history of the Northern Pacific Railway it is necessary to add the corporate changes that occurred from 1917 until its merger into the Burlington Northern in 1970.