Bertrand (steamboat)

Bertrand Site
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Model of the Bertrand
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Nearest city	Blair, Nebraska
Coordinates	41°31′24″N 96°1′44″W / 41.52333°N 96.02889°W / 41.52333; -96.02889
Built	1864
NRHP reference No.	69000138 [1]
Added to NRHP	March 24, 1969

The Bertrand was a steamboat which sank on April 1, 1865, while carrying cargo up the Missouri River to Virginia City, Montana Territory, after hitting a snag in the river north of Omaha, Nebraska. Half of its cargo was recovered during an excavation in 1968, more than 100 years later. Today, the artifacts are displayed in a museum at the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge near Missouri Valley, Iowa. The display makes up the largest intact collection of Civil War-era artifacts in the United States, and are an invaluable time capsule of everyday life during that period.