A New Town Site on the NP Line

A New Town Site on the NP Line. . , The Northern Pacific Railroad began construction of the railway in 1871 and operated along the northern portion of the United States along the Canadian border. The main line was opened from the Great Lakes to the Pacific when former president Ulysses S. Grant drove in the final “Golden Spike” in central Montana on September 8, 1883. The railroad served a large area, including extensive trackage in the states of Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin. , In 1872, the U.S. Army established Fort Seward, a small post garrisoned by three companies (about 120 men) of the Twentieth Infantry Regiment, on a bluff overlooking the confluence of the James River and Pipestem Creek. The Fort guarded the crossing of the James River by the Northern Pacific Railroad. The fort only lasted five years, being decommissioned in 1877 , but the railroad remained, establishing a repair yard that was among the city's main industries until the 1960s. , The town site of Jamestown was selected, also in 1872, by General T.L. Rosser, Chief Engineer of construction for the Northern Pacific Railroad. General Rosser was a Virginian and the location of this town on the James River prompted him to name it Jamestown, after the similarly located town of that name in his old Dominion.