source.

The surveying parties were as a rule accompanied by a small detachment
of regulars and to this fact may be attributed their comparative small
loss of life. While they lost but few of their number, still they were
compelled to work at great disadvantage and frequently brought to a
full stop by the presence of war parties in numbers too great to be
ignored.

They, the surveying and engineering parties, were not so strong
numerically as the grading outfits and did not have their resources.
The different parties not only were frequently driven in but a number
of them were obliged to fight for their lives. The station Hilldale,
Wyo., perpetuates the name of one engineer, Mr. Hill, who was killed
near this place by the Indians while locating the road. Another victim
of the Indians was Colonel Percy in charge of an engineering party on
the preliminary survey. He was surprised by a party of them
twenty-four miles west of Medicine Bow, Wyo.--retreating to a cabin he
stood them off for three days, at the end of which time they managed
to set fire to the building and when the roof fell in he was compelled
to get out, whereupon he was attacked and killed. This took place near
Hanna Station, Wyo., which was originally called Percy in memory of
the Colonel.

Realizing the necessity of military to protect the construction
forces, the Government established numerous forts or posts along the
line, viz:

Fort McPherson, Neb. (originally called Cantonment McKeon, then
Cottonwood Springs Cantonment). Established February, 1866.

Fort Sedgwick, Colo., about four miles from the town of Julesburg,
Colo.

Fort Mitchell, near Scotts Bluffs, Neb., a temporary proposition
occupied only during the construction period.

Fort Morgan, Wyo., not far from Sidney, Wyo., established May, 1865,
abandoned May, 1868.

Fort D. A. Russell, near Cheyenne, Wyo., established July, 1867, still
occupied as an army post.

Fort Sanders, Wyo., near Laramie, established June, 1866.

Fort Fred Steele, fifteen miles east of Rawlins, established June,
1868.

Fort Halleck, twenty-two miles west of Medicine Bow, abandoned 1866.

General Sherman had prophesied that the influx of graders, teamsters,
with their following would bring enough whiskey into the country to
kill off all the Indians, and that the only good Indians were the dead
ones.

One of the most valuable forces during the building of the road was a
battalion of four companies of Pawne