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That merchandise belonged to a dealer. Grant said he let him come to draw a crowd.
• Grant's own stuff included fishing reels, power tools, wildlife prints and the usual garage sale items. A Vikings Artic Blast snowmobile jacket and pants were priced at $225 together. The original price tags, totaling $330, gave away that he never wore the items.
• But Grant had fired the 12-gauge shotgun that Leslie Davis of Apple Valley bought for $395, still in its original box. Grant signed it on the stock.
• "I don't know if I'll use this now that he's autographed it," Davis said with a laugh.
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Railroad says fertilizer shipping commitment met
JAMES MacPHERSON, Associated Press
• BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- BNSF Railway Co. has fulfilled its promise to haul sufficient fertilizer in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Montana to meet the needs of spring planting, the railroad said Thursday.
• But the head of a group that represents more than 40,000 farmers in North Dakota said it may not have happened if not for a prod from federal regulators and a delayed spring planting season.
• The Surface Transportation Board last month ordered BNSF and Canadian Pacific Railway to submit the plans to ensure fertilizer was available for spring planting. Increased crude oil and freight shipments have largely been blamed for causing the rail delays. The railroads have blamed bad weather and rail traffic congestion.
• BNSF, which moves the bulk of the freight in the Upper Great Plains, had committed 52 trains to catch up on fertilizer shipments. BNSF spokeswoman Amy McBeth said Thursday that the railroad has loaded 53 trains and 50 have been delivered.
• "The remainder will be delivered soon," she said.
• BNSF is based in Fort Worth, Texas, but is part of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., based in Omaha, Nebraska. The railroad is the biggest player in the rich oil fields of Montana and North Dakota, hauling about 75 percent of the more than 1 million barrels that moves out of the region daily. The railroad also is the biggest hauler of freight in the Upper Great Plains.
• Canadian Pacific Railway told regulators earlier that moving fertilizer for spring planting did not present a "significant challenge" for the railroad. Canadian Pacific said it's a small player in U.S. fertilizer shipments, moving fewer than 50 cars daily with an overall market share of about 10 percent.
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