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Event highlights history of items found on sunken steamboat

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September 12th, 2015 by Ric Hanson

MISSOURI VALLEY, Iowa (AP) — The DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge in Iowa will offer a chance to learn more about the Civil War-era steamboat that sank nearby in the Missouri River. On Sunday morning at 11, artifacts recovered from the Bertrand will be on display, and an expert will discuss them. The ship’s cargo included an assortment of items that settlers would have needed to survive on the frontier. The Bertrand sank on April 1, 1865.

A park ranger will lead a visit to the Bertrand discovery site to discuss how the westward expansion brought big changes to wildlife in the Missouri River valley. The DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge is situated north of Omaha, between Missouri Valley, Iowa, and Blair, Nebraska. Anyone visiting the refuge must have a $3 entrance permit.