While Frederick Billings may not be a household name today, his name was most assuredly on the tip of the tongue of nearly every important American businessman from the mid to late 19th century. From humble country beginnings in Vermont he attended law school and was admitted to the bar in 1848. During that year, while waiting on a steamship bound for California, Billings heard of the discovery of Gold at Sutter’s Mill near Sacramento. Thereafter, he quickly succeeded as a lawyer in San Francisco, in fact was the very first to hang an attorney’s sign in the bustling yet embryotic gold rush town. He was also a successful Real Estate developer and soon became of one of the wealthiest and most prominent man in California, at one time even being urged to run for President. Just after the Civil War ended, he sold most of his property in California and returned East. This was a tremendous time in America for a capitalist with great fortune, experience and visionary ideas. Billings had already proved himself handily. He saw the potential in great western expansion and was convinced the overland railroad would be the route to riches. In 1869, he bought his first share of Northern Pacific railroad. Ten years later he would be its president. During this time, his interest in conservation had peaked and thus began his work with George Perkins Marsh, the seminal environmentalist. His lifelong dedication to preservation of natural resources would follow him long after he made his mark with the iron rails that left their footprint across this nation. With the tremendous financial failure of Jay Cooke and the Northern Pacific, the ensuing panic of 1873 his mighty visions began to take shape. Bear in mind the Northern Pacific was the single greatest corporate undertaking of the 19th century. With General George Cass as president and he as Managing Director from 1872 to 1875, he began his leadership with the Northern Pacific. His grand reorganization plan for the troubled railroad bloomed in 1875 and saw it’s fruition four years later. The stockholders made him president of the company and the first 100 miles of Missouri was contracted. In one of the boldest financial strokes of the era, he rescued the mighty Northern Pacific Railroad from almost certain failure, enabling it to span the continent and open up the Northwest. His foresight and keen business mind resulted in the establishment of Billings Montana. As a believer in material progress, social engineering, experimentation, and education, his interest in conservation and commerce were not antithetical. This alliance was best expressed by his commitment to the success and careful preservation of Yellowstone National Park. Billings felt that God would not look kindly on those who destroyed His greatest wonders. Because of his tireless efforts this Vermont farm boy, forty-niner, entrepreneur, and philanthropist influenced many of the greatest enterprises of the 19th century at the same time preserving and protecting and sharing the wealth of this country’s natural beauty as well as its economic. His involvement in a vast number of Western businesses left a fortune estimated by some to be $30,000,000 at the time of his death.