During the mid-nineteenth century, steamboats played a major role in the settlement and development of the nation. In March 1865 the fully laden sternwheeler Bertrand left St. Louis under command of Captain James Yore. Its cargo of general merchandise and mercury, used in the refinement of gold, was bound for frontier mining towns near Fort Benton in Montana Territory at the headwaters of the Missouri. On April 1, 1865, the 161-foot vessel struck a snag less than a mile from the village of DeSoto in Nebraska Territory. Although the boat sank in ten minutes, no lives were lost. Bertrand was one of more than 400 steamboats wrecked on the Missouri during the riverboat era. The wreck site, now part of the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, was successfully searched by salvors working with the federal government beginning in 1967, and excavation was completed in October 1969 after 150 tons of cargo had been removed. Its varied and precisely dated contents, recovered after 103 years, provide important research and interpretive resources, and on March 24, 1969, its historic importance was recognized by entry into the National Register of Historic Places.