The St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company was incorporated in 1862 by an act of the Minnesota state legislature to take over the properties, rights, and franchises of the Minnesota and Pacific Railroad Company. These rights included a land grant of approximately 3,250,000 acres and authority to construct a railroad line from Stillwater through St. Paul and St. Anthony to Breckenridge and a branch line from St. Anthony via Anoka, St. Cloud and Crow Wing to St. Vincent. The First Division of the St. Paul and Pacific was created to administer construction of the lines; it issued its own stock and was administered separately from the parent company. In 1862, the company constructed the first rail tracks in Minnesota, a line from St. Paul to St. Anthony. Line construction was partly financed by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company in the 1870s. The Northern Pacific's financial problems of the 1870s forced it to dispose of its St. Paul and Pacific Railroad stock, eventually ending in receivership under Jesse P. Farley. In 1879, James J. Hill and associates acquired the railroad at foreclosure sales and transferred the properties to the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company. In 1892, the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company acquired the St. Paul and Pacific's remaining land holdings.
From the description of Corporate records, 1862-1962. (Minnesota Historical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 665964417
