The North Western Coal and Navigation Company, also known as Alberta Railway and Coal Company or Alberta Railway and Irrigation Company, was a coal mining company formed in London, England in 1882 by Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt, one of Canada's Fathers of Confederation. As part of his vision for Canada, Galt was committed to finding industries that would bring settlers to the District of Alberta of the Northwest Territories. The company was founded to create a coal mining industry that could bring settlers to the Northwest Territories. It was based in Lethbridge, Alberta, with his son Elliott Torrance Galt, managing day-to-day operations. The company's superintendent was William Stafford. Money for this company came from a consortium of investors from Canada, England, and the United States. Galts' narrow gauge railway NWC&NC built the steamboat 'Baroness' along with a number of barges in 1883 to ship coal to Medicine Hat, by the Oldman River. However, this soon proved to be impractical, as the time of navigable high water was short and undependable, and shoals and sandbanks proved hazardous. Only 3200 tons of coal was delivered to Medicine Hat in two years. Sir Alexander Galt had already conceived the idea of a narrow gauge railway, and in 1884 the Federal government confirmed the British charter, and empowered the NWC&NC to build a narrow gauge railway from Dunmore, Alberta, to its coal properties at Lethbridge. NWC&NC contracted Canadian Pacific Railway to buy a minimum of 20,000 tons of coal a year for five years at $5 a ton delivered to Medicine Hat. Canada's Governor General, the Marquis of Landsdowne, demonstrated the Dominion government's support of the Galt enterprises, by opening the Galts' narrow gauge railway on October 19, 1885 in Lethbridge. Alberta Railway & Coal Company In 1889, the Alberta Railway & Coal Company was incorporated by NWC&NC to build a narrow gauge railway from Lethbridge to the Canada–United States border, a distance of 65 miles. Coincident with the building of the AR&CC line in 1890, the Galts received a Montana charter for the narrow gauge Great Falls and Canada Railway (GF&CR). The line ran from Sweetgrass, opposite Coutts, to Great Falls, Montana. By extending their railway into the United States, the Galts were able to enlarge the market for Lethbridge coal. In 1901, the GF&CR line was converted to standard gauge, and was purchased by the Montana Great Northern Railway, a subsidiary of