St. Paul and Pacific Railroad
| Locale | Minnesota, United States |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1857–1879 |
| Successor | Great Northern Railway |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Headquarters | Saint Paul, Minnesota |
The Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad (also known as the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad and the SP&P) was a shortline railroad in the state of Minnesota in the United States which existed from 1857 to 1879. Founded as the Minnesota and Pacific Railroad, it was the state's first active railroad. It went bankrupt, and the state changed its name to the Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad. The SP&P went bankrupt as well. It was taken over by James Jerome Hill and others, who used the railroad as the basis for building the Great Northern Railway.
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. As the state's first active railroad (though not necessarily the state's first railroad), the Minnesota and Pacific received a grant of 2,460,000 acres (1,000,000 ha) of land from the territorial legislature. 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 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.
In 1862, the state legislature reorganized the bankrupt railroad as the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. That same year, 10 miles (16 km) of track between St. Paul and St. Anthony finally opened. Egbert E. Litchfield bought most of the road's stock, and while the branch line reached Sauk Rapids by 1867 (financed mostly by bonds sold in the Netherlands) little was accomplished on the main line. Only 210 miles (340 km) of track had been laid as of 1865. The railroad built almost no more track between 1867 and 1871. Nonetheless, it heavily promoted the construction of towns every eight miles along its length, and was the leading railroad helping to "colonize" Minnesota.
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