This elaborately decorated presentation tray was given to the railroad baron James J. Hill (1838-1916) by citizens of Minneapolis on September 10, 1884. The central view of the tray is the Stone Arch Railroad Bridge spanning the Mississippi River. On either side of the river banks above St. Anthony Falls are flour and saw mills, including the Washburn Flour Mill on the left bank and the Pillsbury Flour Mill on the right bank. Surrounding these mills are other commercial and domestic buildings. In the distance is the Second Hennepin Avenue Bridge, completed in 1876, and to its left, the Union Railroad Depot, then under construction as part of Hill's development of Minneapolis.

Around the border of the tray are eight vignettes illustrating events from Hill's career. These scenes, are separated by six animals' head trophies of elk, buffalo, Rocky Mountain sheep, deer and wolf, all indigenous to the Northwest Territory. In the top center is a portrait medallion of Hill.

The tray was commissioned by seventeen prominent Minneapolis businessmen on behalf of the citizens of their city to honor Hill's "work, character, and career in the Northwest Territory." The tray was commissioned after the completion of the Stone Arch Railroad Bridge, on November 23, 1883, which allowed passenger transportation across the Mississippi River into the heart of the business district of the city. The bridge was also a symbol of Minneapolis's prosperity and progress.