On July 18, 1850, Congress approved funds to build five military roads in the Minnesota Road Act. Two originated on Point Douglas at the confluence of the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers. The first was named the Fort Ripley Military Wagon Road. It went north through Cottage Grove, Newport, St. Paul, St. Anthony Falls to Crow Wing seven miles past Fort Ripley. The distance from St. Paul to Fort Ripley via the wagon road was 150 miles.
