In the 1800s, soldiers posted at frontier garrisons were often more likely to build roads than fight, using picks, shovels, hand tools, and mule-drawn scrapers. Road building was an important military duty for which soldiers received an extra gill of whiskey, equal to a half cup, and 15 cents a day. During the exceptionally wet spring of 1832, a detachment of soldiers labored in rain and mud to carve the 150-mile Military Road over Winding Stair Mountain. The road connected Fort Smith and Fort Towson, was built to defend the frontier, and was also used to relocate the Choctaw Tribe to Oklahoma.