This short connecting route was first built by the Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad in 1883 to connect its two parallel lines on either side of the Red River. The SPM&M came under the control of Great Northern in 1890, who abandoned the line in two stages: from Halstad, MN, to the MN/ND state line in 1900, and the remainder of the line from the MN/ND state line to Alton, ND, in 1908.