This incredible rifle dates to 1870 and is identified as passed down through the family of Canadian-American railroad tycoon "The Empire Builder" James J. Hill and is attributed as presented to him. The stunning rifle is certainly fit for a millionaire from the Gilded Age with its beautiful engraving from legendary Master Engraver Louis D. Nimschke of New York City, silver plated frame and mounts, gold plated hammer, trigger, and lever; and a stunning deluxe walnut stock and forearm. It comes in rare and desirable Schuyler, Hartley & Graham rosewood presentation case with silver plated hardware and ammunition. The engraving compares beautifully with Nimschke's other master engraved Winchester Model 1866 rifles we have had the pleasure of cataloging, including the solid silver frame Model 1866 made for presentation by President Jose Balta of Peru to President Mariano Melgarejo of Bolivia sold by Rock Island Auction Co. in December 2021 for nearly $1 million. The engraving consists primarily of finely detailed interlacing scrollwork with beaded backgrounds similar to the patterns shown in pulls on pages 48-51 of "L. D. Nimschke: Firearms Engraver" by R. L. Wilson. The barrel features a dovetailed nickel-silver blade front sight, the Winchester and King's markings on the top flat, and Henry style notch and folding ladder rear sight. The serial number and "B" are marked on the lower tang. Silver plated sling swivels are fitted to the forend cap and buttstock. The stock compartment contains a takedown cleaning rod. The receiver, forend cap, carrier and buttplate tang are beautifully engraved in Nimschke style with full coverage foliate arabesque patterns with punch dot background. The front flats of the receiver have about 95% coverage and the engraving extends completely over the top of the receiver, around the hammer and down the top tang. The front of the ejection port is engraved with an oval leaf shaped pattern. The buttplate tang is full coverage engraved with geometric, foliate and arabesque patterns with punch dot background and the forend cap has about 50% coverage arabesque patterns. The receiver, forend cap and buttplate are silver plated while the lever, hammer and trigger are gold washed. The scarce original Schuyler, Harley & Graham rosewood case has silver hardware, a large trade label inside the lid, red and green velvet lining, and French fitted interior for the rifle and the ten included full Winchester boxes of .44 Henry Rimfire ammunition (multiple unopened) and also contains a mahogany cartridge block of additional ammunition and a compartment containing a leather sling. James Jerome Hill (1838-1916) was one of the most powerful railroad tycoons of the Gilded Age in the late 19th century and early 20th century. He was born in Canada and was forced to discontinue his education when his father died in 1852 in order to find work to support his family. He volunteered for the Union Army in 1861 but was turned away due to being blinded in the right eye as a boy in an archery accident, but he was reportedly a very good rifle shot using his left eye. By 1865 started his own shipping business in St. Paul, Minnesota, and began working with the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad and began trading in coal and formed the steamboat shipping firm Red River Transportation Company in 1872. He gained steadily in influence in the railroad industry following the Panic of 1873 and is especially remembered as the head of the Great Northern Railway. He was personally involved in scouting the best routes for his railroad which by 1893 ran from St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington, and he successfully navigated the company through the disastrous Panic of 1893 which left many other railroads bankrupt. In the 1901, Hill, J. P. Morgan, Edward H. Harriman, and other businessmen formed the Northern Securities Company which owned the Great Northern, Northern Pacific, and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroads as well as several smaller railroads and gave them control of shipping in the northwestern United States. Hill was the president of the powerful new company, but it was short lived as President Theodore Roosevelt famously won a suit against the company under the Sherman Antitrust Act. However, Roosevelt and Hill worked together in support of conservation. In addition to the railroads, Hill was also active in the coal, iron, steamboat, and banking industries; agricultural development, international trade (especially with Canada and Japan), and land speculation, including actively encouraging the settlement of Russian and Scandinavian immigrants along his lines in the northern U.S. and thus influencing the demographics of the region to this day. By the end of his life in 1916, Hill had a net worth of over $63,000,000 (nearly $2 billion today adjusted for inflation) and had amassed an incredible private collection of art at his mansion in St. Paul in which this spectacular rifle would have been right at home. Provenance: James Jerome Hill; The Hill Family; The Creighton Audette Collection; The Eldon Owens Collection; The Bobby Smith Collection, The Wes Adams Collection, Private Collection