The display makes up the largest intact collection of Civil War-era artifacts in the United States and is an invaluable time capsule of everyday life during that period.

[2][3] Sources differ regarding the ownership of the Bertrand, but it probably belonged to the Montana and Idaho Transportation Line, which was based in St. Louis, Missouri.

[4] J.J. Roe & Co. also invested in the Diamond R Transportation Co., which established a system of ox trains to bring goods to more remote locations some hundreds of miles from the river.

The trip from St. Louis to the new Montana Territory took about two months and was often dangerous, due to the remoteness of the region and the possibility of encounters with hostile Indian tribes, but the profits were well worth the hardships.

J.J. Roe entered the market with other merchants, businessmen, and salesmen in this period, all earning their profits from supplying the demands of the settlers for consumable goods.

On April 1, 1865, under the command of Captain James Yore, the steamboat Bertrand struck a submerged log in the Desoto Bend of the Missouri River, about 25 miles (40 km) upstream of Omaha, Nebraska.

[3] More than 100 years later, in 1968, private salvagers Sam Corbino and Jesse Pursell discovered the wreck in the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The artifacts represent a time capsule of life in 1865 and are now on display at the museum of the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge near Missouri Valley, Iowa.

[5] The cargo found on the excavated Bertrand provides a unique glimpse into the material life of Virginia City, Montana Territory.

The artifacts from the Bertrand represent evidence of what kinds of goods flowed from St. Louis to the Montana Territory during this important period of American state formation.