Two Omaha men, Jesse Pursell and Sam Corbino, began a search in 1967 that led to the discovery of the steamboat Bertrand. The Missouri River had changed course over time, leaving the forgotten wreck in the middle of a Nebraska cornfield. Operating under a Federal contract, the pair successfully completed the excavation of the boat and its cargo in 1969.
Among the objects that the team recovered were a collection of iron carboys use to refine gold ore in frontier towns like Virginia City.