Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad

In 1857, the territorial legislature of the state of Minnesota issued a charter to the Minnesota and Pacific Railroad to build a standard gauge railway from Stillwater in the east to St. Paul in the west. From St. Paul, the main line would extend to Breckenridge in the west (the state's border with the Dakota Territory), while a branch line would extend to St. Cloud, Crow Wing, and St. Vincent. This was the seventh largest land grant of the 75 given to railroads nationwide between 1850 and 1871. Construction began in the autumn of 1856, and in 1857 the state backed a $5 million (equivalent to $ million in ) bond issue to support the new rail system. But speculators manipulated the nascent railroad's profits, overcharged it for supplies, and sold off some of its assets. It went bankrupt in 1860, and the new state legislature purchased all of its assets for a mere $1,000 (). ==Saint Paul and Pacific==

In 1862, the state legislature reorganized the bankrupt railroad as the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. That same year, of track between St. Paul and St. Anthony finally opened. Only of track had been laid as of 1865. In December 1870, the Northern Pacific Railway purchased the SP&P. (a Montreal banker and executive with the Hudson's Bay Company), and George Stephen (Smith's cousin and a wealthy railroad executive) to invest $5.5 million (equivalent to $ million in ) in purchasing the railroad. On March 13, 1878, the Dutch formally signed an agreement transferring their bonds to the investors group and giving them control of the railroad. To finance construction of the SP&P, the road issued bonds that allowed the bearer to receive up to $10,000 per mile of track completed (), but only if the line was finished. In February 1879, the group bought out the Litchfields with cash and bonds in the new company. The SP&P showed a $500,000 profit for 1878 (), and in March 1879 two different courts finally approved the company's emergence from bankruptcy. ==Demise and future ownership==

On May 23, 1879, the key investors in the railroad formed a new company, the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway (StPM&M), to take over the assets of the SP&P. It did so in June 1879, bringing an end to the existence of the St. Paul and Pacific. On September 18, 1889, Hill changed the name of the Minneapolis and St. Cloud Railway (a railroad which existed primarily on paper, but which held extensive land grants throughout the Midwest and Pacific Northwest) to the Great Northern Railway. On February 1, 1890, he transferred ownership of the StPM&M, Montana Central Railway, and other rail systems he owned to the Great Northern. ==Footnotes==