Grant Marsh, famous steamboat captain, died on January 6, 1916.

Marsh, a key figure in Missouri River navigation, was born on May 11, 1834, in New York. A few years later, he moved with his parents to Rochester, Pennsylvania, on the Ohio River.

According to Delton Rothmann in the Exploits of Captain Grant Marsh, as a child, Marsh “spent much of time on the riverside and enjoyed watching the steamboats . . . He loved to hear the shrill whistle of an approaching vessel and yearned to be a part of this colorful, exciting life.”

Marsh's first experience in river service was in 1846, serving as cabin boy on the steamer Dover on the Allegheny River and, from 1852 to 1855, on the Pittsburgh-St. Louis packet.

He served with Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) on the Missouri from 1858-1861 and, in 1860, married a young woman in St. Louis. He served heroically in the Civil War as a mate on the steamer John G. Roe, transporting Union troops.

Marsh's greatest service to the country, however, was in the late 1860s through the 1880s with the Coulson Line on the Missouri River. His first trip to Bismarck was in 1864, and his first command on the Missouri was the Luella in 1866, carrying miners and gold dust to St. Louis.

He once hauled a cargo valued at $1,250,000, considered "the most valuable cargo of treasure ever transported on the Missouri."

In July 1876, Marsh made the run for which he is most famous--the trip from Fort Pease, Montana, to Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory, 710 miles in 54 hours.

Earlier, he had taken General Alfred H. Terry and Custer columns to the Little Big Horn on the Far West. While waiting with supplies, the Far West crew received the news that Custer and his command were wiped out two days before.

On June 30, the wounded of Major Reno's 7th Cavalry detachment were loaded onto the Far West, and Marsh traveled all day and night carrying the wounded to the hospital at Fort Lincoln, the fastest trip ever made by a steamboat on the Missouri.

On July 5, the Far West reached Bismarck. Four days later, Marsh headed the Far West back up the Missouri to the Little Big Horn with supplies and horses for the soldiers left there.

In 1882, Marsh moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and then to St. Louis for 20 years. He returned to the Upper Missouri, working with the Benton Packet Company until his death in 1916.

A December 15, 1910, Mandan Republican article said, "Marsh plans to start a ferry below the railroad bridge in the spring of 1911." His last years were spent operating a boat between Washburn and Bismarck.

For nearly 70 years, Marsh was connected with river transportation. The Washburn Leader, on February 21, 1908, called Marsh's "one of the finest records of any river man in the country."

Marsh died of pneumonia on January 6, 1916, in Bismarck and is buried in the St. Mary’s Cemetery there.

By Cathy A. Langemo, WritePlus Inc.

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