The Railroad Boom in the Northwest [related links]
Martin Albro, James J. Hill and the Opening of the Northwest (1991) -- award-winning biography of the Minnesota entrepreneur who built the Great Northern Railroad.
Harold T. Hagg, "Logging Line: A History of the Minneapolis, Red Lake and Manitoba [Railway], " in Minnesota History, vol. 43 (1972) -- a nice essay on the importance of the railroad to the success of the lumber industry in the state.
Michael Malone, James J. Hill: Empire Builder of the Northwest (1996) -- another excellent biography of Hill, which details his many business ventures, including his railroads.
Sig Mickelson, The Northern Pacific Railroad and the Selling of the Northwest: A Nineteenth Century Public Relations Venture (1993) -- an interesting study of how this railroad advertisement promoted settlement in the upper great plains.