The parcel’s survey identity (county card): Township 10 North, Range 03 West, Section 29, Principal Meridian Montana. Accessed 2026-08-26 on iTax taxid=2852.
This pass: the BLM GLO site was opened (https://glorecords.blm.gov/s/). The 2026 redesign uses a custom search element; a structured T/R/S result and patent image were not captured. That is a 10-minute job at the same URL (or the older https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx). Image is public domain.
Section 29 is odd-numbered.
The Northern Pacific was chartered July 2, 1864 (13 Stat. 365). Congress granted the company odd-numbered sections of public land within the primary limits of the line. Minnesota Historical Society, Guide to the Northern Pacific Land Department Records: https://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/01020/pdf/m0446.pdf
Helena’s NP tracks and the Northern Pacific Addition sit in and around this section. The railroad reached Helena June 13, 1883.
Do not write “the NP patented this exact warehouse lot” until the GLO image names the aliquot. Helena townsite, mining claims, and private cash entries punch holes in the checkerboard.
Jon Axline, Cultural Resource Survey and Assessment: Caird Engineering Works (24LC2205), 13 May 2014, for MBAC. Same Section 29. Hosted at http://helenahistory.org/Caird-Cultural_Resource_Survey_and_Assessment.pdf (accessed 2026-08-26).
Verbatim (site location sentence):
“The site is located in the NW¼ SW¼ NW¼ of Section 29, T10N, R3W. The site is located on lots 1-4, 28, 29, 31-33 of Block 5 of the Northern Pacific Addition to Helena (1883).”
Verbatim (first private purchase — note the township typo in the same paragraph):
“In May 1871, Allen Wilkinson purchased 134 acres in Section 29, T11N, R3W encompassing the future site of Caird Engineering Works. … His property was absorbed into the Northern Pacific Addition by 1883. Acting as the agent of the Northern Pacific Railway, the Montana National Bank sold much of Block 5 of the addition to Charles Caird and Frank Hawksworth in June 1895.”
T11N vs T10N: the site is T10N (opening paragraph + USGS). The 1871 sentence writes T11N. Treat T11N as a likely typo in a report that otherwise locates Caird in T10N Sec 29. Confirm on the GLO image. Wilkinson is still the name to search.
Same Wilkinson, different lots: Archives West / MTHS MC 421, Helena Abstract & Title — abstract for Lot 5, Block 19, Northern Pacific Addition, “established by Allen M. Wilkinson in 1870.” https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv990874
Decision for Block 25: the Addition’s origin story is Wilkinson’s 1870–71 private purchase of Section 29 ground, absorbed into the NP Addition by 1883, with later lot sales by NP’s agent (Montana National Bank on Block 5). That is section-level, not a patent for Lots 1–4 Block 25. Ask MTHS if they hold a Block 25 abstract. Ask GLO for the Wilkinson / NP / cash-entry patents on T10N R3W Sec 29.
Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records
https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx · redesigned home https://glorecords.blm.gov/s/
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| State | Montana |
| Meridian | Principal Meridian Montana (21) |
| Township | 010 N |
| Range | 003 W |
| Section | 29 |
Expected patentees to look for:
Order path if GLO is blank: Clerk & Recorder document type PATENTS; MTHS abstract; Minnesota Historical Society NP Land Department lists (finding aid 01020).
Can say: The warehouse sits on Northern Pacific Addition, Section 29, T10N R03W — the railroad’s own addition, on the same odd section a 2014 CRS traces to Allen Wilkinson’s 1871 purchase, absorbed into the Addition by 1883.
Cannot say: The patent number, the patent date, or that Kleinschmidt / Nash Finch / the Hornes received this ground from the United States.