The 1901 stock-market panic that followed a battle for control of the Northern Pacific Railway was the Panic of 1901.
Financiers E. H. Harriman and James J. Hill opposed investors led by J. P. Morgan and James Speyer in a struggle over Northern Pacific. Traders aggressively bought shares, driving the price far above normal levels. When the contest ended, the market experienced a sharp collapse in Northern Pacific stock.
The panic was concentrated in railway shares but affected the wider New York Stock Exchange. Northern Pacific’s stock rose from roughly $45 to more than $1,000 before falling dramatically, trapping short sellers and intensifying the scramble for shares.
The episode encouraged cooperation among major railroad interests and contributed to the creation of Northern Securities. The Supreme Court later ordered that holding company dissolved under antitrust law, making the panic part of the broader history of U.S. corporate consolidation.