Railroads played an important role in the settlement of the Great Plains, but their construction was particularly damaging to the Indian way of life because they helped the military patrol rapidly along the lines and encouraged villages and farming communities to grow up along the rights-of-way. The Union Pacific was built across Nebraska between 1864 and 1867, and on May 10, 1869, the U.P. tracks joined those of the Central Pacific at Promontory Point, Near Ogden, Utah. Section crews were stationed along the railroad to keep the tracks and telegraph wires repaired, and the Sioux and Cheyenne, knowing the importance of this maintenance work, attacked working crews. Several such raids took place in present Dawson County. On April 29, 1868, Mrs. Timothy Tobin and Mrs. William Costin, wives of section foremen, and their families were threatened by an Indian raiding party. Shortly afterward the warriors attacked and killed Mr. Tobin and section hands Schultz and McCarthy. A third employee, Williams, was seriously wounded but escaped to the section house. Fearing for her husband and his crew, Mrs. Costin set out to warn them of the danger. A passing train picked up the survivors, and the two slain workmen were buried near here.