Nebraska is famously triple-landlocked, meaning that you have to go through at least three other states (or provinces) before reaching an ocean from here. It would stand to reason, then, that we’ve never experienced a shipwreck on our shores. But in fact, there is a famously wrecked boat that crashed off of Nebraska’s eastern border and laid underwater for more than 100 years.
The Steamboat Bertrand looked a lot like this when it set out on the Missouri River from Wheeling, West Virginia in 1864. It was headed for Montana, but it hit a submerged log north of Omaha.
Facebook/Steamboat Bertrand Museum
It took just a few minutes for the steamboat to go under. No one was killed in the shipwreck, but a vast amount of supplies were lost. The payload was worth around $100,000 in 1864 dollars.
Facebook/Steamboat Bertrand Museum
Fast forward about a century to 1968, and two professional salvagers, Sam Corbino and Jesse Pursell, used data mined from a number of sources to narrow down the wreck’s location. They discovered it in the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge.
Google Local/Chris Titus
Since the wreck was discovered on government property, the salvagers were obligated to turn over all recovered goods to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The Steamboat Bertrand Museum was born and today tells the story of Nebraska’s most famous shipwreck through an incredible collection of 500,000 artifacts.
Google Local/Chris Titus
You can visit the museum on the grounds of the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, and you can even take a stroll out to the very spot where the wreck was discovered.
Google Local/Dan Krueger
The river has changed course since then, so the wreck site is no longer at the bottom of the Missouri. Today it’s a water-filled pit surrounded by informative historical markers. The hull of the Bertrand is still down there in the mud, a symbol of our riverfaring past.
Google Local/Jim McWilliams
You can visit the Steamboat Bertrand Museum and the wreck site at the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge: 1434 316th Ln, Missouri Valley, IA 51555. (Although the address is in Iowa, the refuge is technically in Nebraska but on the east side of the Missouri River.) The refuge is open every day from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Find out more on the DeSoto NWR website or the Steamboat Bertrand Museum’s Facebook page.
Facebook/Steamboat Bertrand Museum
Google Local/Chris Titus
Google Local/Dan Krueger
Google Local/Jim McWilliams
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Address: Nebraska, USA
