The Cheyenne and Northern Railway Company was incorporated under the laws of the Territory of Wyoming on March 1, 1886. It proposed to build and operate a railroad from Cheyenne to Fort Laramie and beyond, through Wyoming and Montana Territories to connect with the Northern Pacific Railroad, and on to the United States-Canadian border. The first fifty miles of track was laid and placed in operation in 1886. Another seventy-five miles of track was completed the following year to Wendover. The line was owned and operated by the Union Pacific from 1887 to 1890. The line was part of the 1890 consolidation from which emerged the Union Pacific, Denver & Gulf Railway Company. As part of the UP, D & G, the Cheyenne and Northern was extended from Wendover to Orin Junction, where it connected with the Fremont, Elkhorn, and Missouri Valley Railway (later the Chicago & Northwestern). In 1898 the Cheyenne and Northern became part of the Colorado and Southern Railway Company.

The collection contains correspondence and statements (1886-1890), articles of incorporation, by-laws, appraisals of land (1888), operations reports (1886-1890), minute books (1886-1889), stock ledger (1888-1889), journals and ledgers (1886-1890), and Larimer County, Wyoming bonds (1886).