The north-south Puget Sound railroad route, long awaited and dreamed of, finally forged ahead in 1890 when James J. Hill (1838-1916) purchased the New Westminster and Southern Railway. That same year he created the Seattle & Montana Railroad to be the second section of the three divisions set up by Hill's backers on the north-south route. Hill purchased the Fairhaven & Southern Railroad that ran from Bellingham Bay to the Canadian border (originally built by Nelson Bennett), and extended it to Burlington where it met the Seattle & Montana. All three would eventually merge with the Great Northern in 1900.