Surveyor for the First Transcontinental Railroad
— Killed by Indians —
On June 11, 1867, Lathrop Hills led a party of surveyors up the nearby Lodgepole Creek, staking out the location for the Union Pacific Railroad, the first transcontinental railroad. Hills was riding out in front of the group when he was attacked by Indians and killed. Within minutes his men drove off the Indians and later reported they found 19 arrow wounds in this body. He was 35. Hills' work lived after him. By November 14, 1867, the tracklayers had reached Cheyenne and 18 months later a golden spike was driven at Promontory, Utah, completing the first railroad connection between the East and West and opening millions of acres for settlement. The railroad reduced travel time from the six months required by wagon train to five days from Omaha to San Francisco.| HM Number | HM1SKZ |
|---|---|
| Placed By | State of Wyoming |
| Marker Condition | No reports yet |
| Date Added | Monday, June 13th, 2016 at 9:01am PDT -07:00 |
| UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 13T E 543713 N 4562452 |
|---|---|
| Decimal Degrees | 41.21226667, -104.47855000 |
| Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 41° 12.736', W 104° 28.713' |
| Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 41° 12' 44.16" N, 104° 28' 42.78" W |
| Driving Directions | Google Maps |
| Area Code(s) | 307 |
| Closest Postal Address | At or near 1476-1478 Coates Ave, Hillsdale WY 82060, US |
| Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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