Constructing a railroad in the late 19th and early 20th centuries required skill, determination, hard labor, and careful planning as routes often crossed remote areas with few roads and many dangers. An exploration team first scouted the land to find the most economical route, sometimes backtracking because of large marshes and deep ravines, and after the general route was chosen, a survey team of three crews followed: a chief of party crew led the work, the transit crew took measurements and set survey stakes every 100 feet to keep the route as straight as possible, and the leveling crew recorded elevations at the stakes. A topographic crew then drew detailed maps showing features such as streams and ravines so the railroad company could calculate construction costs. Track laying was harsh work done in crude camps and extreme weather with hand tools, horse teams, and brute strength, and between 1860 and 1900 crews built nearly 7,000 miles of railroad track in Minnesota. Life in survey camps was tough, with simple meals such as bread, coffee, and meat, workers supplying their own bedding, and minimal personal hygiene. Crews shaped logs into railroad ties with axes and worked together to lever track into place with a tool sometimes called a gandy, giving rise to the nickname gandy dancers. Railroad workers also used a specialized slang for crew roles and equipment during the steam locomotive era, and railroad parts included spikes, track bolts, date nails, tie plates, fish plates, and steel rails marked so they could be traced to their manufacturer and checked in series if a rail broke or warped.