The Montana Central Railroad ran on the tracks that follow Little Prickly Pear Creek and Interstate 15 and formed part of railroad tycoon James J. Hill's plan to build a vast transcontinental transportation system. The Helena Weekly reported that the Montana Central was a scheme inaugurated by Col. Broadwater of Helena and supported by James J. Hill of St. Paul, president of Manitoba Railroad, and that its birth coincided with Hill's decision to begin extending the Manitoba to Montana and the West. Hill and other railroad magnates took the first through train from St. Paul to Helena on Nov. 18, 1887. At the same time that Helena residents were dressing the city in flags and bunting to welcome Hill and his party, the Northern Pacific Railroad tried to keep the Montana Central track-laying crew from building across its line. The blockade drew much attention and a heated exchange of words, but it was settled quickly, the track was completed without further incident, and the Nov. 21 celebration went ahead as scheduled. Helenans had celebrated five years earlier when the Northern Pacific reached town because it meant the end of the stage companies and bull-team freighters, and the arrival of the Montana Central in turn broke the Northern Pacific's monopoly. The Manitoba Railway became the Great Northern in 1890, Montana Central sold out to them in 1907, and Burlington Northern now owns these lines as well as most of the others in Montana.