The Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway was created on May 26, 1870 by a group of Minnesota investors interested in establishing a railroad connection between Minneapolis and the agricultural regions to the south. Minneapolis was home to the largest flour milling operations in the country at that time. Wheat was the primary commodity grown in southern Minnesota and Northern Iowa. Not wanting to be captive shippers for railroad companies from Milwaukee and Chicago, the Washburns, Crosbys and Pillsburys – the men who owned the flour mills in Minneapolis – formed their own railroad as a way to ship wheat in and ship flour out. By 1880, the road had reached Albert Lea to the south and leased the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad to ship flour to Duluth, Minnesota for transport to markets served by Great Lakes shipping and to ship lumber south from Northern Minnesota and Northern Wisconsin using the St Paul and Taylor's Falls road as a means to capture a large portion of the lumber market. As the wheat growing regions moved north and west, the company acquired and built lines to South Dakota.