About 3 a.m. on December 5, 1932, Fort Calhoun marshal Albert Suverkrubbe was shot while trying to apprehend two men fleeing Kruse's Red and White Grocery at 106 S. Fourteenth Street. Suverkrubbe died from his wounds nine days later, leaving his wife, Frances, and two young sons. He was the only Washington County law enforcement officer to lose his life in the line of duty during the county's first 152 years (1855-2007). He made the ultimate sacrifice to keep the city safe.
]]>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 the command of Captain James Yore. The cargo of general merchandise and mercury, used in the refinement of gold, was bound for the frontier mining towns near Fort Benton, 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, Nebraska Territory. The site of the wreck is now part of the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge. Although the boat sank in ten minutes, no lives were lost. The Bertrand was one of more than 400 steamboats wrecked on the Missouri during the riverboat era.
In 1967 salvors in cooperation with the federal government began a successful search for the Bertrand. The excavation was completed in October 1969 after 150 tons of cargo had been removed. The varied and precisely dated contents provide important research and interpretative resources after 103 years. On March 24, 1969 the historic importance of the Bertrand was recognized with its entry into the National Register of Historic Places.
]]>The town of DeSoto was platted on this site in 1854 and incorporated in 1855. Steamboating on the Missouri was then in its heyday. DeSoto provided a landing for passengers and goods. A number of boats sank nearby, notably the Cora and Bertrand. Ambitious citizens advanced plans to make DeSoto a "gateway to the West" - first by operating a ferry in 1857 and later by promoting a railroad to connect DeSoto with Fremont. A track was laid as far as present Blair. By 1857 DeSoto had grown to several hundred. Fifteen businesses flourished, including hotels, saloons, stores, newspapers, banks. The town was county seat from 1858 to 1866.
Its decline began in 1859 with a great exodus of residents to the Colorado gold fields. Following the Panic of 1857 its three banks closed. The Sioux City and Pacific Railroad, after buying the DeSoto line's franchise, chose to cross the river three miles north of DeSoto and in 1869 established Blair. DeSoto's hopes for growth were blasted. Its citizens left for other communities, a number to become figures of prominence in judicial, political, and financial circles in Nebraska. Today the Fort Calhoun Power Station is in the area where once flowed the Missouri River.
]]>From 1820 to 1827, the nation's largest and most westerly military post occupied this site, the earlier scene of Lewis and Clark's Council Bluff. In late 1819, troops under Colonel Henry Atkinson established Cantonment Missouri along the river near here. In 1820, a permanent post was built here on the bluffs and named Fort Atkinson. The post's population of over 1,000 included military personnel of the elite Rifle Regiment and Sixth Infantry, some of their families, and other civilians. The Sixth U.S. Infantry occupied Fort Atkinson when it was abandoned in 1827. The fortification consisted of a rectangular arrangement of one-story barracks fashioned of horizontal logs. The structures faced inward upon an enclosed parade ground with loopholes on the exterior walls. Four entrances were located near the center of the four walls. Cannons were mounted in the bastions at the northwest and southeast corners. A massively-built powder magazine occupied the center of the enclosed area. Outside the fortification were located a large council house for negotiating with the Indians, a gristmill, a schoolhouse, sawmill and other buildings. A brick kiln produced thousands of bricks. Fort Atkinson represents an important early step in opening the West.
]]>Civilization came to the west bank of the Missouri with the establishment of Fort Atkinson in 1820 about a half mile southeast of here. Named after its founder, General Henry Atkinson, this western-most Fort protected the frontier's developing commerce. Established as a temporary camp in 1819, Fort Atkinson was the largest and strongest outpost above St. Louis. The permanent post went up a year later on the site of Lewis and Clark's Council with the Oto and Missouri Indians. From Fort Atkinson troops under the command of Col. Henry Leavenworth moved up the Missouri River in 1823 to punish the Arikara Indians after an attack on William H. Ashley's fur trading party. Members of the garrison ascended the river in 1825 on a mission of peace, participating in a series of treaties with the Indians. This spearhead of white civilization was abandoned in 1827. But in seven years Fort Atkinson had brought the first school, the first white family life, a library, a sawmill, a brickyard, a grist mill, and large-scale agriculture of the west bank of the Missouri.
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