-Caveat Lector-
from:
http://www.endgame.org/rrcc-history.html
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1916 There were 254,000 miles railroad in the U.S., the all-time high.
Railroads carry three quarters of all intercity freight and 98 percent of all
intercity passengers.
1916 Federal grants for highway construction begin.
1916 JJ Hill dies; he was replaced on the Great Northern board of directors
by F.E. Weyerhaeuser, who served until 1932.
1917 JJ Hill Reference Library established in St. Paul; its first head was
Joseph Pyle, Hill biographer.
1917 December 28. The federal government takes over railroad operations. CB&Q
President Hale Holden and NP Chairman Howard Elliott sit on the Railroads War
Board Executive Committee.
1920s NP's coal mines around Red Lodge began to be open pit (Malone, Roeder,
and Lang, 1991, p.337-338).
1920 Mineral Leasing Act (41 Stat. 437) said railroads can't lease federal
coal except for railroad purposes (railroads tried to repeal this with HR
6721 in 1975). Railroads got around it by restructuring, having joint
ventures lease the coal. BN got its Dreyer Brothers ranch subsidiary to apply
for Montana coal lease.
1920 Esch-Cummins Act (Transportation Act of 1920) helps return railroads to
private management; railroad profits are maintained with guaranteed loans,
and the ICC's power is broadened.
1921 Supreme Court ruled NP was entitled to select lands within national
forests if none other was available; (U.S. v NP (256 U.S. 51).
1921 NP sells Anaconda 717 acres (Cotroneo, 1967, Arno press edition 1979,
p.285, ignoring the 1907 sale of a million acres).
1922, 1935, 1937 Washington Forest Reserve, Snoqualmie, and Rainier
checkerboard exchange legislation.
1924 President Coolidge asks Rep. Sinnott (House Committee on Public Lands)
for comprehensive review of the NP grant, citing letter from USDA Secretary
Wallace.
Their letters, published in the New York Times (Feb. 26, 1924; reprinted in
Transitions, March 1992, p.5-7), charged that the NP's sale of lands had more
than paid for the cost of constructing the railroad; that over a thousand
miles of the railroad had not been completed within the time required by law;
that NP had failed to sell certain lands to settlers for no more than $2.50;
that hundreds of thousands of acres were not sold to the public at all; that
hundreds of thousands of acres of land were obtained through erroneous
mineral classification; that NP traded good land for worthless land under the
Mount Rainier Park Act of 1899; that NP was given a million and a half acres
too many in Washington State; that 500,000 acres too many were granted due to
erroneous border lines; that 640,000 acres too many were granted at the
Tacoma overlap; that 600,000 acres too many were granted at the Wallula
overlap; that 1.3 million acres too many were granted in its second indemnity
belt.
1924 Congress told the Dept. of Interior to withhold approval of NP land
grant adjustments and patents until Congressional inquiry.
1924-1928 Northern Pacific Land Grant Hearings before the House Committee on
Public Lands (1924); the Senate Committee on Public Lands and Surveys (1924);
and the Joint Committee on Investigation of Northern Pacific Railroad Land
Grants (1925-1928). Five thousand of pages of testimony was submitted by
officials of the Forest Service, the General Land Office, the Office of
Indian Affairs, mining engineers and executives, the ICC Bureau of Accounts,
the Idaho state surveyor, and the Northern Pacific itself. NP denied the many
charges of error and fraud. The Attorney General said Congress could declare
the land grant forfeited, and should have it submitted for judicial
resolution (Hearing, Part 13). In 1929, Congress directed the Attorney
General to sue NP; see the 1940 U.S. Supreme Court decision for a description
of and judgement on the government's charges (U.S. v. NP, 311 U.S. 317, 1940).
1927 NP hits the $100 million mark in net grant land sales revenues (Mercer,
1986, p.200).
1929 Railroads carried 75 percent of intercity freight traffic.
1929 Greyhound bus begins.
1929 Railroads begin to lose money on passenger service (except for the years
1942-1945).
1929 June 5 Congressional resolution suspends issuance of further patents. In
June 25 legislation (46 Stat. 41), NP forfeits part of the 3.9 million acres
in the Gallatin; the U.S. retains the land and directs the Attorney General
to file a lawsuit that would adjust the grant and decide whether NP was
entitled to cash compensation. The courts were also to make a "complete
determination... [of] all other questions of law and fact" regarding the land
grant. The railroad describes the impending suit in its 1929 Annual Report
(p. 14) by saying "an Act of Congress provides for the submission of the
controversy concerning the erroneous inclusion of Northern Pacific indemnity
lands in the National Forest Reserves was approved June 25, 1929. The suit in
equity which this Act provides for will doubtless be commenced in the near
future."
The 1929 legislation held the transfer of 2.8 million acres within national
forest boundaries in WA, ID and MT (NYT, June 26, 1929).
1930 The U.S. Attorney General filed suit (U.S. v. NP) in the Eastern
Washington District Court in July, as directed in June 1929 resolution. The
100-page complaint against NP sought $50 million and removal of 3.9 million
acres (2.4 in mineral lands and 1.5 in overly circuitous routes in Washington
State) (NY Times, Aug. 1, 1930). In the eventual 1941 settlement between the
U.S. and NP, which was partially based on arrangements made under the 1940
Transportation Act (in which the railroad relinquished claims to 4.5 milliion
acres), the railroad relinquished claims to 2.9 million acres and paid the
government $300,000.
1932 Motions filed in U.S. v. NP.
1933 Emergency Railroad Transportation Act to help railroads through
Depression.
1933 Special Master (Frank Graves) Report, May 1933, Equity No. 4389, on U.S.
v. NP. "Advised the court to award the company compensation for the loss of
the right of indemnity selection in the so-called reserve lands" (Cotroneo,
1980, p.110).
1935 Memo Opinion in U.S. v. NP.
1935 Motor Carrier Act passed with railroad lobbying. The ICC is to control
trucking rates and entry.
1937 Special Master (Frank Graves) Second Report in U.S. v. NP., July 23,
1937. According to Cotroneo (1980, p.110), " the special master agreed that
the government had sufficient evidence to establish fraud on the part of the
[U.S. land] commissioners and involvement by Northern Pacific." Example given
was NP awarding timber contracts to U.S. land commissioners Crane and Goode.
1939 Findings and conclusions in U.S. v. NP are made. "The court, after
sustaining certain of the plaintiff's exceptions and dismissing almost all of
the defendants', found [NP] entitled to patents for certain lands outside the
[national forests and other] reserves and to compensation for the loss of
1,453,061 acres of land within them" (as stated in the later decision U.S. V.
NP, 311 U.S. 272, 1940). Both sides appealed to the Supreme Court; NP's
appeal was thrown out.
1940 There were 233,000 miles railroad in the U.S.
1940 Weyerhaeuser purchased 36,000 acres of Northern Pacific Railroad land,
located near Weyerhaeuser's upper Deschutes railroad, for $400,000 (Twining,
1985, p.215).
1940 Supreme Court decision in U.S. v. NP, 311 U.S. 317.
Only eight justices ruled - Jackson disqualified himself for previous
involvement in land grant investigation. The eight didn't agree on several
points and reserved judgement (311 U.S. 317, 342): whether stock sales had
been legitimate; whether NP had completed construction as required; whether
funds were funnelled to branches while the main line went unfinished; whether
lands were opened to settlement and preemption at $2.50 an acre; and whether
the grant had been violated by not selling land upon 1875 and 1896
foreclosures. The rest of the decision favored the U.S.
1940 Transportation Act relieved railroads from carrying government freight
at reduced rates (except for military taffic, which was ended in 1947) if
they would abandon further claims to the government for additional lands or
compensation.
The 1940 Transportation Act ended further claims by railroads to grant lands:
NP relinquished claims to 4.5 million acres in WA, MT, ID, OR, ND, MN, WI,
WY; the Southern Pacific relinquished two million acres in CA; and AT&SF gave
up 1.6 million acres in AZ and NM (NYT, Apr. 20, 1941).
1941 NP proposed a settlement to U.S. v. NP: NP would relinquish further land
or compensation claims and agree to pay the U.S. $300,000, and in return the
U.S. would discharge its various claims against NP. The Secretaries of
Agriculture and the Interior accepted, and the settlement was approved by the
court and the Attorney General (Applegate, 1979, p.158-160) says that the
settlement ignored the reserved issues, and the judge said the settlement
wasn't binding on Congress, and that it didn't meet the intent of Congress
when it authorized the lawsuit (U.S. v. NP, 41 F.Supp. 287-291).
"On March 28, 1941, the company signed and filed a release [acc. to the
Transp. Act of 1940] on 428,986 acres to which it had laid claim, and it
filed a request for compensation for the 1,453,000 acres expropriated and
placed in forest reserves. The secretary of the interior accepted the
agreement on April 16, and the repeal of reduced land grant rates on
government civil and mail transportation went into effect on that date. In
turn, the government consented to close the case if the railroad paid
$300,000 cash in lieu of all federal claims against the company. The land
committees of both houses of Congress agreed to the settlement. Next, the
matter came before the district court in Spokane. Upon hearing hte issues
resolved and the agreements reached, the judge enetered the final decreee on
August 28, 1941" (Cotroneo, 1980, p.111).
>From the railroad's 1941 Annual Report (p. 6): "The Company has received
approximately 95 percent of the 42,000,000 acres comprised in the grant, and
owned on December 31, 1941, 4,828,001 acres."
1943 Weyerhaeuser purchased Northern Pacific timber near Spirit Lake at Mt.
St. Helens for $357,000, or three dollars per thousand board feet (Twining,
1985, p.259-260).
1948 Reed-Bullwinkle Act sanctioned rail and trucking rate bureaus (cartels).
1950 There are 224,000 miles railroad in the U.S.
1950 Landell v. Northern Pacific is filed, attacking the validity of its 1896
reorganization. First filed in New York in 1900, the suit became dormant in
1903, and was dismissed for want of prosecution in 1937. The 1950 version was
dismissed in 1954, for laches on the part of plaintiffs.
1951 Williston Basin oil discovered in Montana and North Dakota; NP owns or
has rights to 3.2 million acres of land in the area (NP 1951 Annual Report,
p. 3; Moody's Transportation Manual, 1954, p.1210).
1955 Manadamus suits filed by four individuals demanding to buy Northern
Pacific grant land for $2.50 per acre.
1957 Passengers by air exceed those by rail.
1958 Transportation Act attempts to make railroads more competitive by
loosening rate restrictions and making guaranteed loans.
1958 Northrn Pacific closed its Colstrip, Montana coal mine; the mine had
been the main source of NP coal since it opened in 1923, having extracted 42
million tons. In 1959 it was sold to Montana Power (NP, 1960 Annual Report,
p. 11).
1959 220,000 miles railroad in the U.S. employing 800,000 people and carrying
44 percent of the freight and 28 percent of the passengers.
1960 Agreement to merge was reached between the NP, GN, CB&Q, SP&S, and
Pacific Coast railroads.
1961-1962 Hearings on merger of "the Northern lines" held. The U.S.
Department of Justice, the USDA, railway employee groups, nine states, and
the Milwaukee and North Western railroads opposed the merger. Shippers and
others supported it.
1961 GN subsidiary Glacier Park co. sells its Glacier National Park
concession to Don Hummel (who sold it to Greyhound in 1981).
1962 The October 12 storm blew down 30 million board feet of Northern Pacific
timber; NP's 1962 Annual Report (p. 12) noted that it would be salvaged "with
little loss in value."
1964 Northern lines merger hearings examiner submitted a report to the ICC
recommending approval of the merger.
1966 First Report of the ICC rejected the hearing examiner's recommendation
to approve the merger of the Northern lines. Conditions protecting the
Milwaukee and the North Western railroads were accepted, and objecions to the
merger were withdrawn by those railroads, the USDA, and the states of Oregon,
N. Dakota, S. Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
1967 The ICC's Second Report, and approval of the merger of the Northern
lines (331 ICC 228).
1968 U.S. DOJ files a complaint in U.S. District Court (DC) against the ICC
approval of the BN merger. Intervenors against the merger included the NP
Stockholders' Protective Committee, the City of Auburn, Washington, the State
of Washington, the Montana Board of Railroad Commissioners, the Livingston
Anti-Merger Committee, and the Minnesota Public Service Committee.
Intervenors supporting the merger included 230 shippers in the Pacific
Northwest (see 396 U.S. 502).
The court sustained the ICC; the U.S. appealed.
1968 NP began leasing coal to Montana Power subsidiary Western Energy Co.,
and Peabody began hauling Colstrip coal to Minnesota (Malone, Roeder, and
Lang, 1991, p.338).
1970 In U.S. v ICC (396 U.S. 491), the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the 1967
ICC decision (331 ICC 228) to allow BN merger on the grounds of the
Interstate Commerce Act (as amended by the 1940 Transportation Act), saying
it was "consistent with the public interest" and that the terms of the merger
were "just and reasonable."
Burlington Northern is formally established on March 2, finally completing
Hill and Morgan's attempts to combine the Northern Lines.
1970 Penn Central goes bankrupt.
1970 ICC review of railroad holding companies ("Conglomerate Merger Studies")
concludes that nonrail business is bad for railroads, national
transportation, and defense. Also concludes that railroad dividends had gone
to nonrail subsidiaries; railroads were used to obtain credit without
compensation; and holding company expenses were billed to railroads.
1970 Rail Passenger Service Act creates Amtrak with an initial $200 million
subsidy; by 1980 it has received $10 billion.
1972 Administrative complaint against BN by the National Coalition for Land
Reform and the California Coalition of Seasonal and Migrant Farm Workers
(NCLR and CCSMFW v. Rogers C.B. Morton et al, Dept. of Interior
Administrative Complaint, June 21, 1972).
1973 BLM interim response to NCLR/CCSMFW complaint.
1973 Regional Railroad Reorganization Act (the "3R Act") reorganizes Penn
Central into Conrail and subsidizes railroad service in the Northeast ($4
billion from 1976 to 1980, according to Keeler, 1983, p.33).
1974 NP began Colstrip mining with the Minnesota-based Foley Brothers. Also
involved Montana Power subsidiary Western Energy and Peabody (Malone, Roeder,
and Lang, 1991, p.337-338).
1975 Rock Island goes bankrupt.
1975 U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) study on NCLR/CCMFW complaint is done,
but not released until Dec 21, 1976. The DOI claimed it had no authority or
duty to conduct review of land grants or to make railroad's comply with
settlement and preemption. Said Congress has sole authority. Cited NP with
possible breach of grant, but offered no remedies. Said railroad not illegal
in mineral rights, because minerals weren't known at the time (see Applegate,
1979).
1976 Federal Aid in Highways Act creates National Transportation Policy Study
Committee (1979 report).
1976 Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act ("4R Act) (90 Stat.
33, 45 USC 801 et seq).
1977 ICC's "Railroad Conglomerates and other Corporate Structures" report in
response to the requirements of the 4R Act. The ICC's scope was only holding
companies, not railroads as a whole (as the Act required). Some railroads
refused to give info. There was dissent among the ICC Commissioners. Analysis
of BN only one page (p.51): "financial strength of BN is due in large measure
to the existence and development of its nonrailway assets." Cites a statement
in a BN Annual Report that the railroad (90 percent of BN's assets)
contributed only 10 percent of its pre-tax income.
1978 Forbes magazine article says BN is "consuming itself" (Oct. 30, 1978,
p.98).
1978 Railroads carry 36 percent of total intercity freight (trucks carry 25
percent; oil pipelines carry 23 percent). They carry less than one percent of
the passenger traffic (autos carry 84 percent; commercial airplanes carry 12
percent).
1978 Capital expenditures of railroads hits $2.6 billion (in 1950 it was $1.2
billion; in the 1960s less than $1 billion per year). See the Association of
American Railroads' "Yearbook of Railroad Facts."
1979 National Transportation Policy Study Committee report (ordered by 1976
Federal Aid in Highways Act).
1980 Railroads carry 38 percent of U.S. intercity freight traffic.
1980 Staggers Act deregulates railroads.
1980 BN acquires the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway in November. While it
never went further west than Tulsa, the "Frisco" gave BN access to the Gulf
of Mexico and the Deep South. This railroad had been granted land in 1865
under Gen. John C. Fremont (Yenne, 1991).
1980 (1977?) The Milwaukee Road, which predicted hardship and opposed the BN
merger in 1970, goes bankrupt, leaving Montana a BN monopoly.
1981 Court allows BN shareholders to vote to reorganize as a holding company;
and the corporate headquarters is moved from St. Paul to Seattle. See also
1983 entry (Citizens Committee suit).
1981 Amtrak reduced its route system by 10 percent because of reduced
appropriations. A 1980 stdy found the average ticket was subsidized by $60 to
$70.
1981 BN employee Margaret Hulden files suit after being passed over for
promotion 14 times.
1981 McCarty Farms class action against BN grain rates in Montana filed with
ICC. In May 1987, ICC ruled BN had monopoly.
1982 Hearings before the Senate Subcommittee on Surface Transportation of the
Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, March 15, 1982 (see
Creedy, 1983).
1983 June 22. Decision in Citizens Committee to Save the Land Grant
Railroads, et al., v. Burlington Northern (708 F.2d 1430).
Unions, creditors, and shareholders had sued to stop the 1981 reorganization
of BN as a holding company; the suit was dismissed on the grounds of lack of
private federal right of action and lack of federal jurisdiction.
1983 El Paso Natural Gas company acquired. Several lawsuits were filed on
grounds that El Paso shareholders didn't receive fair value (Gilbert et al v.
El Paso; Gelobter et al v. Bressler; both Delaware Court of Chancery and
state Supreme Court). Spun off 1992.
1983 BN agrees to pay 400 current and former black employees $50 million in
back pay, in one of the largest race bias suits in U.S. history. The EEOC
said BN had discriminated against blacks in hiring, discipline, termination,
initial assignment, transfer, promotion, and training. Only 2 BN engineers
were black.
1984 BN railroad headquarters is moved to Ft. Worth.
1986 BN's female employees win class action suit file by Margaret Hulden in
1981.
1986 BN takes $1.1 billion loss from "discontinued operations" (BR spinoffs);
in 1988 BR received spin-off proceeds of $481 million (BNI 10-K 1988,
p.14,18).
1986 Glacier Park buys interest in David Sabey's Chemical Processors
(Chempro); later placed under Burlington Environmental (also a Sabey
partnership).
1987 The legal review entitled "Railroad Land Grants from Canals to
Transcontinentals 1808-1941," by Thomas E. Root, is published by the American
Bar Association and the University of Tulsa College of Law.
1987 In May, ICC rules that grain shippers in Montana have no alternative to
BN: BN carried 80 percent of grain shipped from Montana; had 91 percent of
Montana track mileage; served 98 percent of Montana grain elevators. The
Commission is yet to decide whether BN's rates are reasonable. Part of
long-running McCarty Farms class action (filed 1981).
1987 Sierra Pacific Industries bought 522,000 acres of California timberland
from the land grant railroad Santa Fe Southern Pacific for $460 million ($880
an acre). Over the next eight years paid more than $600 million for an
additional 400,000 acres. SPI now controls 1,332,000 acres of mostly prime
timberland, making it the country's largest private (but not corporate)
landowner (just ahead of Ted Turner). Using an average price of $1,700 per
acre, Sierra Pacific's timber holdings are worth more than $2 billion
(Forbes, Oct. 13, 1997).
1988 Settlement with NP land grant bondholders became final in January
(Rievman v. BN, 118 F.R.D. 29, S.D.N.Y., 1987).
BN paid a cash premium of $35 million "for the release of certain properties
from the mortgage liens" (BNI 10-K 1988, p.21). BN land (and natural
resources) were released for spin-off and development.
1988 Burlington Northern Worldwide created: a "transportation supermarket" by
rail, ship, truck, or air. Contract signed with Chinese Railway Ministry.
1988 May. Burlington Resources was formed as a holding company for BN's
natural resource operations. In July, BR was spun off with an initial public
offering of 20 million shares; this decreased BN's ownership to 87 percent,
and gave BR net proceeds of $481 million. In December 1988 the remaining 130
million shares were distributed tax-free to the shareholders of BN. Nothing
was paid by the BN shareholdrs for the BR shares (BNI Ann Rep 1990, p.31).
1988 Meridian announces three million ounces of gold found at Beartrack
(Salmon, Idaho).
1988 BE's Chempro acquires oil spill contractor Crowley Environmental
Services.
1988 BR buys interest in New Mexico & Arizona Land Company (Los Angeles
Times, June 8, 1988, sec. IV, p.22).
1989 BE's Chempro acquires Crosby & Overton.
1989 In October, BR announces its intent to sell the real estate assets of
Glacier Park, estimating them to be worth $450 million. "Accordingly, the
operations of Glacier Park have been classified as discontinued" (1990 Annual
Report, p.31).
1989 Plum Creek spun off in June with the sale of limited partnership units
combined with a leveraged buyout, which raises some $600 million. BR retains
large interest (11 percent, including 2 percent as general partner, according
to the 1990 Annual Report, p.31).
1990 Plum Creek repurchases seven percent of its outstanding stock.
1990 Joint venture between BN and Santa Fe Railroad is announced. America's
Transportation Group (ATG) will coordinate intermodal operations in the
Southeast and West (BNI 1990 Annual Report, p.15).
1990. James Hill family descendants sue Willametter Industries for
mismanagement of 168,000 acres in Oregon (AP, Seattle Daily Journal of
Commerce, July 13, 1990).
1990 City of Tacoma bought 6.7 acres of industrial land at 801 Pacific Ave.
from Glacier Park for $3.9 million (Feb. 14, 1990).
1990 May. Meridian Gold is merged with FMC in return for 8 million shares
($80 million) of FMC stock.
1990 Meridian Oil buys Unicon's San Juan, New Mexico natural gas for $400
million.
1990 April. BR announces that Burlington Environmental is for sale.
1990 November. Trillium Corporation of Bellingham, Washington announced it
had signed a letter of intent to buy 230 parcels of land from Glacier Park in
Washington, Montana, Colorado, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and
Wyoming. The purchase price and number of acres were not disclosed (Seattle
Post-Intelligencer, Nov. 22, 1990, p.H1,H4). In March 1991, Glacier Park
confirmed that Trillium is expected to buy "essentially all" of GP's
non-agricultural holdings in MT, WY, CO, NE, ND,and SD. The deal could be
worth $50 million (Puget Sound Business Journal, April 1 1991). In August
1991, Trillium challenged Montana's newly-amended railroad right of way law,
saying it did not give landowners flexibility in using and selling property.
Montana House Bill 233 gives leaseholders the first right to purchase leased
land within 300 feet of a railroad right of way; this interfered with
Trillium and Glacier Park's real estate sales agreement (Seattle Daily
Journal of Commerce, Aug. 23, 1991). See also September 1991 and June 1992
entries.
1991 Railroads haul 37.6 percent of freight traffic.
There are 176,000 miles of railroad track.
Railroads' net income was a $38 million loss.
1991 Plum Creek authorizes repurchase of another million and a half of its
limited partnership units.
1991 Meridian Aggregates becomes limited partnership.
1991 Thousands of gallons of the weed killer metam sodium were spilled into
Lake Shasta reservior when a Southern Pacific train derailed into the
Sacramento River in July. Rep. Barabara Boxer held hearings in the fall, and
said "it's time for an overall assessment of rail safety in America" (Dietz,
1991).
1991 September. Trillium Corp. closed deal with Glacier Park purchasing
15,000 acres of property in seven states (Tapperson, June 16, 1992). See also
November 1990 and June 1992 entries.
1991. Through 1991, BR received $325 million for the sale of real estate to
Glacier Park Co., its own subsidiary (BR Ann Rep 1991 p.34).
1992. 22.2 percent of the shareholders of Burlington Resources' vote for a
resolution requiring the company to prepare a report on its reactions to the
Valdez Principles of environmental corporate responsibility; this is the
first time more than 20 percent of any corporation's shareholders have
approved a "social proxy" issue other than South Africa (Douglas G. Cogan,
1992, p.53).
1992 In January, BR board authorizes repurchase of another ten million
shares; since spin-off, it had already repurchased 19.4 million shares.
1992 March. El Paso spun off with an initial public offering of 5.7 million
shares (15 percent of total) of stock; the net proceeds were $101 million
(EPNG 10-Q, Mar. 31 1992 p.4). The remaining 31.4 million shares were
distributed to BR shareholders.
1992 April. Buck Droll, living for 24 years on BN land on Columbia River near
Longview, seeks Cowlitz Co. court order to prevent being evicted by BN. His
cabin was destroyed by fire while Droll was in a Portland hospital; Droll's
housemate suspects arson (AP, Apr. 2, 1992; Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May
1, 1992).
1992 April. Plum Creek announced it had sold its Belgrade sawmill and 164,000
acres in Gallatin and Park Counties, Montana to the (Tim) Blixseth Group of
Portland and McDougal Bros. of Dexter, Oregon. The firms agreed to follow
through with the Porcupine and Gallatin land exchanges with the U.S. Forest
Service, which involved 45,000 acres of PC land for 21,500 acres of USFS land
and $3.4 million, as part of Montana wilderness bill [S. 1696] (AP, April 23,
1992). The land had been sought by the Nature Conservancy (Long, May 23,
1993, timeline).
PC's Belgrade, Montana sawmill and 139,000 acres were sold to the Oregon firm
[of Tim Blixseth] Big Sky Lumber; another 25,000 acres was sold to Moonlight
Basin Ranch, Inc., a group of developers from Cleveland (Long, May 23, 1993,
timeline). The sale price was $24 million; $16 million was to be recorded in
the third quarter (Dow Jones, Aug. 5, 1992; Standard & Poor's Corporate
Records, Dec. 1992, p.7621). In May 1993, the U.S. House passed a bill
sponsored by Pat Williams (D-Mont.) to acquire 80,000 acres of this Gallatin
land for $12 to $20 million (James Long, May 23, 1993; and Seattle Times, May
23, 1993, p.A6). See High Country News (Oct. 18, 1993, p. 12) for Blixseth's
attempted purchase of part of an 1849 Mexican land grant in New Mexico.
1992 April. Commercial landlord-developer Trammel Crow bought 115 acres of
land from Glacier Park for $3.3 million. The land is just south of the
Kent/Renton border, in Washington. A $60-million, million square foot Kent
North Corporate Park is planned for the site with land advisory corporation
Heartland and SAFECO subsidiary Winmar Co. Much of the land in the Kent
Valley is wetlands; Glacier Park has received reduced tax assessments for its
600 acres;, much of which cannot be developed because of wetlands
regulations. Trammel Crow said the Army Corps of Engineers had delineated
wetlands on the 115-acre property, and 65 acres are buildable (Stevens, Feb.
12 and May 5, 1992).
1992 May. Glacier Park sold 43 industrial, commercial, and agricultural
properties in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, and Montana for about
$2.5 million, and announced that it had other properties for sale and then
would "close our doors in June," according to director of sales Ray Flaherty.
Trillium Corporation agreed to acquire Glacier properties that are not sold
to others. The properties sold include the Eastbrook and Westbrook sites
purchased by Trammell Crow for its Kent North Corporate Park, which were sold
for $3.3 million; 68 acres of farmland and pasture in Auburn, Washington, to
Segale Inc; and a 26-acre industrial parcel in Oylmpia, Washington. Trillium
"withdrew from auction a 174-acre quilt of properties in Renton, representing
the undeveloped remainder of Orilla Business Park." There is also a $21
million 48 acre parcel near downtown Vancouver, BC (Epes, May 8, 1992).
Tapperson (June 16, 1992) estimated the latest Trillium purchase at 10,000
acres in 75 tracts and 25 commercial and industrial parks; he also has
details of the 15,000-acre deal between Trillium and Glacier Park in
September 1991. Glacier Park land sold to Trillium is in FL, IA, ID, IL, KS,
MN, MO, ND, OK, OR, TX, WA, and Alberta and British Columbia.
1992 May. The Hillyard railroad yard property in Spokane, Washington has been
transferred from BN to Glacier Park and back again. BN announced in May 1992
that 200 acres would be developed, hopefully to attract the type of
businesses that would use rail service. BN said it sought to have the city of
Spokane annex the land and extend city services to it (Puget Sound Business
Journal, May 28-June 4, 1992). Hillyard is one of the sites contaminated by
years of railroad use (U.S. EPA CERCLIS list, Dec. 1990).
1992 June. Council on Economic Priorities releases its environmental profile
of Plum Creek (and 19 other timber companies).
1992 June 30. BN tank cars carrying benzene, liquid propane, and butadiene
derailed near Superior, Wisconsin. Benzene spilled into the Nemadji River and
60,000 people were evacuated rom Superior and Duluth, Minnesota. At least
three class-action lawsuits were filed (BNR Env. Rep. Curr. Dev., July 10,
1992, p.771). BN was found to be at fault (May 1993).
1992 July. A joint venture to develop Meridian Mineral's Bull Mountains coal
reserves north of Billings, Montana was announced. Half the 20 to 25 billion
yen project is to be owned by Arch Mineral Corp. (in turn owned by Ashland
Oil and Hunt Industries), 20 to 30 percent by Sumitomo and Mitsui Mining, and
the rest by Meridian. Production is expected to begin in 1993 and reach five
million metric tons by 1995; extractable reserves are estimated at 130
million tons (Dow Jones news report, July 22, 1992).
1992 September. Plum Creek admits breaking federal and state election laws by
attaching political slogans and anti-wilderness literature to employees
paychecks in Flathead Valley, Montana. Leaflets warned PC employees they
could lose their jobs if they did not attend an anti-wilderness rally in
September. PC was fined the maximum, $1000 (Forrester, Oct. 19, 1992; and
High Country News, Feb. 22, 1993).
1992 September 17. Robert Bass affiliate SPO Partners filed its third SEC
Form 13-D in 18 months, announcing its intent to acquire its third five
percent of Plum Creek Timber (Grunbaum, Oct. 2, 1992; Virgin, Oct. 3, 1992).
Dow Jones then reported that during October, SPO had been selling many of the
units, lowering its share to 4.5 percent, or 605,217 units (Dow Jones, Oct.
22, 1992). But see January 1993 entry.
1992 October. El Paso announced that it had authorized the repurchase of 2
million shares (5.4 percent of the total 37.3 million shares) "to be used in
connection with employee stock option plans" (EPNG press release, Oct. 22,
1992).
1992 October. BR announced it would sell substantially all of its coal
properties to Great Northern Properties L.P. for $80 million and future
royalties. The properties are mostly in Montana, North Dakota, and
Washington, and include reserves committed to Western Energy's Rosebud mine
and Peabody's Big Sky mine. BR will retain its Bull Mountains, Montana
reserves, which are to be deveoped in a joint venture with Arch Mineral,
Sumitomo, Mitsui and others (Dow Jones, Oct. 28, 1992).
1992 November. ECOS announced it was abandoning its plans to build a $60
million hazardous waste incinerator in Adams County, Washington, because it
was unable to find a partner to help finance the project (Olympian, Nov. 20,
1992).
1992 November. BN Chairman Gerald Grinstein elected chairman of the
Association of American Railroads (Seattle Times, Nov. 30, 1992, p.E2).
1992 November. Standard & Poor's lowered BN's ratings, because of its
aggressively leveraged capital structure related to the spin-off of resources
properties without a divestiture of the debt assumed to acquire and develop
those properties (Dow Jones, Nov. 18, 1992).
1993 Amtrak trains killed 9 of the 200 remaining grizzly bears in Glacier
National Park; they had been attracted to human wastes flushed onto the
tracks (Earth Island Journal, Spring 1994, p. 12).
1993 January. Despite reports that SPO was selling its recently-acquired
shares of Plum Creek, Burlington Resources announced that SPO Partners had
paid $70 million for BR's general partnership shares, which represent a two
percent interest in Plum Creek, and for its 1.25 million deferred
participation rights, which could be converted to shares in 1994. The two
forms of ownership, when converted, are about ten percent of Plum Creek; SPO
already held about four percent. BR has a commitment through June 1994 to
support a minimum quarterly distribution on Plum Creek shares of 60 cents
each (Virgin, Jan. 5, 1993). The Seattle Times reported that Plum Creek
president and chief executive officer David Leland and director Ian Davidson
would remain on the board (Seattle Times, Jan. 4, 1993, p.F5).
1993 April. An agreement between joint venture partners BN and Grupo Protexa
of Monterrey, Mexico was signed with the Port of Galveston, Texas for
rail-barge service between Texas and Mexico (Wall Street Journal, May 28,
1992); service began in April 1993 (Dow Jones, May 19, 1993).
1993 April 21. An "independent committee" of Plum Creek's board of directors
approved a proposal to authorize the redemption of the outstanding 1.25
million Deferred Participation Interests (DPIs), which are held by the
partnership controlled by SPO Partners & Co. This would allow Plum Creek "to
redeem approximately 8 percent of its total limited partnership interests at
a discount from current market prices for the publicly traded Units."
Approval of the plan is to be sought at a special meeting of the Unitholders,
to be held in early July (Plum Creek, First Quarter Report 1993). See July
1993 entry for this meeting's "unexpected" adjournment.
1993 May. BN was found to be at fault for the June 1992 Duluth train wreck
and evacuation; damaged rails could have been fixed, and reduced speed would
have helped (Dow Jones, May 11, 1993).
1993 May. The U.S. House passed a bill authorizing acquisition of 80,000
acres north of Yellowstone National Park at a cost of $12 to $20 million;
exchanges or cash would be used to acquire the land from a private company
[Blixseth, which bought the land from Plum Creek in 1992] that could soon
begin harvesting its timber. The land would become part of the Gallatin
National Forest. Sponsor of the bill was Pat Williams, D-Mt.(Seattle Times,
May 23, 1993, p.A6).
1993 June. Eight railroads were ordered to pay some $8 million in excess
freight charges involving the hauling of spent nuclear fuel assemblies from
1975 to 1988; BN, UP, and CSX were responsible for three-quarters of the
overcharges (Wall Street Jounral, June 2, 1993).
1993 June. Bear Stearns downgraded Burlington Resources stock from "buy" to
"hold" because of natural gas prices (Dow Jones, June 24, 1993).
1993 June. The Federal Trade Commission cleared BR in an anti-trust
investigation regarding stock in Fina Oil & Chemical (Dow Jones, June 8,
1993).
1993 June. Plum Creek said it had spent $75,000 on metal-detection equipment
on the xxx timber sale, which was tree-spiked by environmentalists opposing
the timber sale in 1989. The judge in the case, who said he could determine
only about $8,000 in direct losses to the company, dropped some charges
against the defendents because the McClure Law against tree-spiking, which
requires more than $10,000 in damage (John K. Wiley, Tacoma News Tribune,
June 10, 1993).
1993 June 11. Burlington Resources spun off the rights to certain profits
from the Burlington Resources Coal Seam Gas Royalty Trust, its natural
gas-producing property in New Mexico. Investors get a quarterly payout plus a
tax credit. Some 7.7 million units of a total 8.8 million units were sold the
first day on the New York Stock Exchange (Seattle Times, June 11, 1993, p.D4;
and June 12, 1993, p.D1).
1993 July-November. Plum Creek disclosed that is was negotiating "a large
acquisition" that could add to its stock of timberland and mills; the assets
were estimated to be worth more than $100 million, but Plum Creek would not
identify the seller. Analysts said there were several properties that might
fit, including 817,000 acres and two mills in Montana owned by Champion. The
disclosure was made at the unexpected adjournment of a July 1 meeting called
to approve the redemption of deferred interests held by SPO Partners
(Harrison, July 2, 1993) (see April 21, 1993 entry). On November 1, Plum
Creek completed the purchase of 867,000 acres of western Montana timberland
from Champion International for $260 million (Plum Creek 1997 Form 10-K),
which had purchased it from Anaconda Copper in 1972, which had purchased it
from Northern Pacific in 1907. Plum Creek now holds 90 percent of the timber
industry land in Montana (Devlin, Aug. 1, 1993; Dow Jones, July 19 and Nov.
2, 1993).
1995. 960 acres of Plum Creek checkerboard land in the Silver Creek Valley in
the Wenatchee National Forest near Easton in eastern Washington was purchased
by the U.S. Forest Service. In 1997, environmentalists asked Congress to
purchase the remaining 1,600 acres of Plum Creek land in Silver Creek for
$7.5 million (Cascade Checkerboard News, June 1997).
1995 February 7. Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Pacific shareholders
approved BN's $4 billion acquisition of Santa Fe. Since October 1994, Union
Pacific had tried to prevent the merger with its own hostile takeover of
Santa Fe. If approved by the U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission, the new
Burlington Northern Santa Fe would be the country's largest railroad, with
more than 30,000 miles of track. (Wall Street Journal, Feb. 8, 1995, p. A4).
1995 March. Conservation agreement between Assistant Secretary of the
Interior George Frampton and Plum Creek (Cockburn, The Nation, xxx).
1995. Gerald Grinstein retiring as chair of BN Santa Fe (Seattle Weekly, Dec.
6, 1995, p. 15).
1996. An investment group led by Clayton, Dubilier and Rice acquired an 81.3
percent stake in Manville Corporation's Riverwood International Corporation
(Pulp & Paper 1998 North America Factbook, p. 52). On August 7, 1996, Plum
Creek announced an agreement with Riverwood International Corporation to
purchase 538,000 acres, two sawmills, and a plywood plant in northern
Louisiana and southern Arkansas, and a tree nursery in Texas; Plum Creek
would also enter a long-term agreement to supply Riverwood's West Monroe,
Louisiana paper facility (Plum Creek, Second Quarter Report 1996).
1996 Feb (?) BN train wreck San Bernadino xxx
1996 March. Madrona Investment Group (MIG) formed by Gerald Grinstein (BN),
William Ruckeleshaus (Weyerhaeuser, BN/BR Ecos, Browning-Ferris), Tom Alberg
(LIN Broadcasting), and Paul Goodrich (Perkins-Coie) (Seattle Weekley, Mar.
20, 1996, p. 15).
1996 April 11. "Montana Rail Link train derailed one mile west of Alberton,
Montana. Five tanker cars filled with industrial chemicals derailed --
including four filled with chlorine. One of the tankers ruptured and
reportedly released more than 60 tons of chlorine, sending a toxic plume of
chlorine gas across the Clark Fork River, in the path of motorists on
Interstate 90 and over surrounding residences. Approximately 1,000 people
were forced to flee their homes. The chlorine plume killed one person and
hospitalized 352 people. An 8 to 12 square mile zone in the vicinity of the
spill was evacuated. The chlorine plume interacted with another spilled
chemical (potassium cresylate) to form organic chlorine compounds, including
chlorophenols. When released into the environment, chlorine can interact with
other compounds and form highly toxic and persistent organochlorine
compounds" (April 22, 1996 press release by Cold Mountain, Cold Rivers, Box
7941, Missoula, MT 59807).
1996 April. Burlington Northern Santa Fe is acquiring the Yakima-based
Washington Central Railroad Company for $40 million as part of its plan to
reopen the 77-mile Stampede Pass route as its third freight route across the
Cascades; expanded Far East trade through ports of Seattle and Tacoma are
estimated to mean $25 billion in cargo through Stampede Pass every year
(Olympian, Apr. 21, 1996, p. C8).
1996 June 20. The federal Surface Transportation Board, regulatory successor
to the U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission, ruled that U.S. law protecting
interstate commerce pre-empts local laws on construction activities for
railroads (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 10, 1996, p. B2).
1996. Merger of Union Pacific and Southern Pacific.
1996 June 27. Federal government approval of Plum Creek's Habitat
Conservation Plan exempting it for 50 years from Endangered Species Act
regulations on 170,000 acres in the Central Cascade mountains.
1996 August. The Washington State Public Disclosure Commission, for the third
time in that election cycle, investigated House Majority Leader Dale Foreman
for election law violations -- this time for his establishment of the
supposedly independent, but actually pro-Republican, "Campaign for
Washington." CFW co-chairs Chris Bayley (former officer of Burlington
Northern, Burlington Resources, and Glacier Park) and Dick Derham were also
key strategists in Foreman's campaign for governor; Foreman and CFW were each
raising money for the other. The Commission did not find Foreman guilty the
thrid time, but criticized hiim for skirting the boundaries and spirit of the
law (Seattle Weekly, Aug. 28, 1996, p. 19; and Olympian editorial, "Plug Hole
I Campaign Law," Sept. 13, 1996, p. A15.).
1996 August 7. Plum Creek announced an agreement with Riverwood International
Corporation to purchase 538,000 acres, two sawmills, and a plywood plant in
northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas, and a tree nursery in Texas; Plum
Creek would also enter a long-term agreement to supply Riverwood's West
Monroe, Louisiana paper facility. "Adding these assets to our existing
resource base [of over two million acres] will enhance the Company's value in
a world of diminishing timber resources" (Plum Creek, Second Quarter Report
1996).
1996 August 27. El Paso Energy and Tenneco filed documents with the U.S. for
a tax-free merger (El Paso Energy Corporation press release).
1996 October 11. Plum Creek consummated the sale to Stimson Lumber Company of
107,000 acres of timberland in Northeast Washington and Northern Idaho and
the Company's sawmill near Colville, Washington (the "Newport Asset Sale")
for approximately $141.9 million, plus $8.7 million for working capital. Plum
Creek used the net proceeds from the Newport Asset Sale to pay a portion of
the purchase price for the Southern Region Acquisition (Plum Creek 1997 Form
10-K).
1996 October 18. Plum Creek acquired approximately 529,000 acres (plus
approximately 9,000 leased acres) of timberland in Louisiana and Arkansas,
along with two sawmills, a plywood plant and a nursery from Riverwood
International Corporation for a total purchase price of $540 million, plus
$11.9 million for working capital (Plum Creek 1997 Form 10-K).
1997. Environmentalists asked Congress to purchase the remaining 1,600 acres
of Plum Creek land in Silver Creek for $7.5 million (Cascade Checkerboard
News, June 1997); in 1995, 960 acres of Plum Creek checkerboard land in the
Silver Creek Valley in the Wenatchee National Forest near Easton in eastern
Washington was purchased by the U.S. Forest Service.
1997 March. Trendwest submitted plans for its resort on former Plum Creek
land along the Cle Elum River in Kittitas County, Washington: 500 hotel
rooms, 800 condominiums, 3,300 houses, 2 golf courses, an equestrian center,
and sports parks. Issues include exemption from growth management zoning,
destruction of wetland and riparian areas, and insufficient water (Cascade
Checkerboard News, June 1997).
1997 May. Pilchuck Audubon Society, the Huckleberry Mountain Protection
Society, and the Muckleshoot Indian tribe go to U.S. District Court to stop
the Huckleberry Land Exchange between the U.S. Forest Service and
Weyerhaeuser in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in western
Washington (Tacoma News Tribune, Dec. 10, 1996; Seattle Times, May 15, 1997
and May 23, 1997).
1998. The day its I-90 Land Exchange DEIS came out, Plum Creek announced it
would seek a legislated exchange. U.S. Senator Slade Gorton and U.S.
Representative Doc Hastings follow suit by introducing bills (passsed as a
rider to federal appropriations legislation).
1998. Plum Creek purchased 900,000 acres of cutover timberland in Maine from
Sappi.
1998 October-November. Riders attached to U.S. appropriations legislation
include Plum Creek Timber's I-90 checkerboard land exchange, and the "Quincy
Library bill" which would increase timber cutting in the Tahoe, Lassen, and
Plumas National Forests for Sierra Pacific Industries.
-----
Aloha, He'Ping,
Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Em Hotep, Peace Be,
All My Relations.
Omnia Bona Bonis,
Adieu, Adios, Aloha.
Amen.
Roads End
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