Archives West Finding Aid

W. Leland James founded Consolidated Truck Lines in 1929 by merging five trucking firms in the Pacific Northwest into a holding company. Consolidated Truck Lines became Consolidated Freightways, originally based in Portland, Oregon. The organization expanded its routes across the United States and into Canada. By 1956, it had become America's largest carrier company. In September 2002, after more than seventy years of operations, Consolidated Freightways declared bankruptcy. Freightways, organized in 1939, was a cooperative association formed by six motor carriers, including Consolidated Freightways, based in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1942, the Justice Department brought a lawsuit against Freightways for monopolistic practices, and the organization disbanded in 1944. Freightliner Corporation, a truck-manufacturing company, was incorporated in 1940 as a direct offshoot of Consolidated Freightways operations.