The government favored railroad was the Northern Pacific, who built their line from Minneapolis-St. Paul via Fargo, Bismarck and Billings to the western terminus of Portland, Oregon.
Hill came in and built his line north through Duluth, Grand Forks, Minot, Great Falls to to western terminus of Seattle. For a few years, there was stiff competition between the two before they merged.
Farmers actually got better rates using Hill's line to the extent that mid-sized towns built spur lines to connect to GN hub cities like Minot or Grand Forks. When North Dakota decided to build a state-owned mill and elevator during the Great Depression, Grand Forks won location rights over the much larger city of Fargo for precisely that reason.
This is why the Empire Builder continues north out of Fargo before turning west at Grand Forks, leaving larger towns on the old NP line like Bismarck and Billings with no Amtrak service at all. However, I believe they still have a spur that splits in Spokane with one going west-south-west to Portland and the other going west to Seattle.
I did not know that,and i grew up in Moorhead, just across the Red River from Fargo. Very familiar with the NP train station and NP Avenue among many other places in the Fargo/Moorhead area. Still have some extended family there. Thanks for the information!