Launched in Wheeling, West Virginia in 1864, the Bertrand measured 161 feet long and could carry up to 251 tons. The ship was part of an extensive trading system that cropped up along the Missouri River in the 19th century, carrying goods and animal furs between St. Louis and frontier towns like Virginia City in the Montana Territory upriver.
Though no one died when the Bertrand sank, the ship was full of clothing, tools, food, and various consumer items. Many of these items were alarmingly intact when the wreck was discovered 100 years later.