This line was built in segments: the Souris-Westhope portion was built by the Great Northern Railway in 1903 as an extention of their pre-existing line from Rugby, ND, and the remainder of the line built by the Dakota and Great Northern Railroad in 1905, which soon came under the control of the GN.
Similarly, the line was also abandoned in the same segments: the latter abandoned in 1985 and the former in 2004.