In 1870, as director and afterward as president, he undertook the work of pushing the Northern Pacific Railroad to completion.

After the road had been built to the Missouri River and eastward from the Pacific Ocean about 100 miles, Jay Cooke and Co., the fiscal agents, failed during the Panic of 1873, and the completed parts were not paying expenses.

Wright afterward assisted in the reorganization by which the road was completed to Puget Sound.

[3] Wright served as president of the Northern Pacific from 1875 until 1879 and was instrumental in deciding on Tacoma as its western terminus.

[3] There he endowed the Annie Wright Seminary for girls (named for his daughter),[5] and Washington College for boys, and was noted for his generosity to young men.