Among the numerous Yellowstone River steamboat pilots, Grant Marsh was the greatest steamboat master and pilot on both the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers. Marsh grew up in Rochester, Pa. He began his steamboat career as a cabin boy at the age of 12. By the time he turned 24, Marsh was first mate on the A.B. Chambers No. 2, and he was assisted by a then-unknown second mate, Samuel Clemens.

Marsh piloted boats during the civil war, bringing supplies, information and transporting troops. When the war was over, the government focused on the Dakota Territory, building forts to try to restrain the Indians and eventually opening up the area for settlers and the railroads. In 1866, Marsh was captain of the “Luella.” Taking supplies to Fort Benton, he came upon a group of soldiers engaged in the first stages of constructing a fort at the mouth of the Yellowstone. The beginning of Ft. Buford would become a substantial army post. These soldiers lacked tools and had to keep their rifles handy at all times. They risked being shot by the Sioux, headed by Sitting Bull, whenever they went outside the walls. Steamboats coming up the rivers would put boiler iron around the pilothouse to protect the captain from Indian bullets.

Throughout the years, Captain Marsh operated the Josephone in regular trips between Yankton, Bismarck and Ft. Benton in transporting government stores and post traders goods. In 1873, the Coulson Packet Company bid for the government contract for carrying troops and supplies on the river. The company’s proposal was made in the name of Captain Grant Marsh. As soon as the ice went out in the spring, Marsh met with Gen. George Forsyth, an aide on Gen. Sheridan’s staff. Forsyth had orders to take military command of the Key West and explore the Yellowstone River as far as the mouth of the Powder River. No steamboat had ever ascended the Yellowstone, and the object of the trip was to learn whether it was navigable. If so, the intention was for boats to carry up supplies for military expeditions that would ascent the Yellowstone Valley as an escort to the Northern Pacific surveyors. When personally navigating his boat, Captain Marsh always kept beside him in the pilothouse a notebook in which he recorded for his own future reference the characteristics of the channels and adjacent shores of the river. In 1873, it was out of the question to have men walk along the bank and accurately determine the distance from point to point; time would not allow this and the soldiers never knew where the Indians were at. So the work was done on the boat. The men having it in charge were stationed on the top, or “hurricane” deck, the length of which was exactly 150 feet from bow to stern. One of the men took his place at the stern to keep the record and the other two at the bow. As soon as the boat got under way, one of the men at the bow selected an object on shore and keeping abreast of it, walked toward the stern. When he reached the latter, still abreast of his marking point, he had walked 150 feet, and the boat, obviously, had advanced a like distance. Upon his gaining the stern, the second man started from the bow, similarly covering an object on the shore, while the first returned to the bow to repeat the process and so on. This method established the distance along the river with approximate certainly, and from that day to the present the measurements taken by the Key West and the Josephine have been regarded as the standard ones for the Yellowstone, no regular survey of the river having ever been made.

One of the entries made in Marsh’s book would read: “Run left-hand shore up past a big bluff. Plenty of dead timber in this bend. Then cross from the dead wood in the left-hand bluff over to a short, right-hand bend. Small timber in the head of this bend. Run to the head of this short, right-hand bend, then circle out between two islands (first island named Crittenden Island for General T.L. Crittenden, 17th Infantry; second named Elk Island) and come back to a right-hand prairie bend. Run this bend to the head of it, then cross from the dead timber in the head of the right-hand bend over to a deep, left-hand bend (bluff named Calf Head Butte).”

The Yellowstone Valley, for all of its natural features, was given their names by Captain Marsh. Like any pilot who feels a pride in professional knowledge, he recorded the course of the channel, the locations of the islands and chutes, the nature of the banks and any other data, which might prove useful. During this first exploration of the valley, Marsh assisted by Clerk Buesen bestowed names right and left upon islands, bluffs and rapids. These were later recorded by a representative of the War Department and applied in official maps and documents to the points designated.

Forsyth Butte, the first prominent bluff on the east bank of the Yellowstone above its junction with the Missouri, was called in honor of the military commander of the expedition. Cut Nose Butte, Chimney Rock and Diamond Island were named because of their resemblance to these objects. A group of seven small islands a few miles above Diamond Island was called by Captain Marsh the Seven Sisters Islands –in remembrance of his seven sisters – and Crittenden Island for Gen. Crittenden, commanding the 17th Infantry. Mary Island became a monument to the chambermaid of the Key West, wife of the steward, “Dutch Jake.” Reno Island was named for Major M Reno, of the 7th Cavalry; Schindel Island for a captain of the 6th Infantry; Bryant’s Buttes for Major M. Mryant, commanding the escort of the Key West; Edgerly Island for Lieutenant W. S. Edgerly of the 7th Cavalry; Monroe Island for the captain’s brother, Monroe Marsh; DeRussy Rapids for Isaac D. DeRussy, lieutenant colonel of the 14th Infantry; and McCune Rapids for one of the captain’s old friends.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Information compiled from “The Conquest of the Missouri.”